


Hands So Bloody, Tastes Like Honey

by arcticmalum



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, M/M, Spy!Michael, ashton's calum's buddy, assassin!calum, luke's the techie, this book is my child
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-05-02 20:40:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 37,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14553099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcticmalum/pseuds/arcticmalum
Summary: "I could give you so much more than those guys." His lips hang open after he speaks as if he'll lean in and kiss him any second now. He smells like cigarettes and it's intoxicating him. His whole body screams yes while his mind only reminds him that this isn't real, this is a job, he's supposed to kill Calum tonight.orMichael's hired to go undercover and kill the most wanted man in their field, Calum Hood





	1. More Wine?

**Author's Note:**

> okay aaah i have been working on this fic for MONTHS and if you think i'm kidding ask my editor and pal who facetimed me weekly to help me revise this piece, this book is for that bitch u know who u r thx for the help
> 
> title from halsey's The Prologue
> 
> enjoy chapter one

Being called to the CEO's office is never good, not when you're Michael. If it were good he would've had an assistant call him from over the intercom or maybe even walk up to him in person saying that his boss would like to speak to him.

Instead, he received an email from the man himself. It blatantly pointed out how he heard about his last cover mission and would like to discuss it in his office at noon sharp.

Michael failed his last cover mission. He never retrieved the files he was supposed to grab and instead brought the headquarters a whole folder full of the building's renovations. He screwed up and now the files are still locked up for the assholes to use.

His colleague and rather trustworthy friend, Luke, is by his side on the elevator ride up to the seventeenth floor, patting his back and telling him he's got this just as the sliding doors open to show the sleek white and silver hall leading towards his doom.

"Just don't look him in the eyes," The blonde is whispering advice in his ear before shoving him forward and out of the elevator, "It helps."

Michael rolls his eyes at him, so much for calling him a friend. He knows he shouldn't stress over this too much but it's terrifying. The last person given an invitation to the boss via email was resigned from the agency. He can't waltz in as if this'll end well.

He sucks in a sharp breath and glances at his watch, 11:59. Right on time, he knocks on the door the second it switches to 12:00. Punctuality could get him on their good side.

"Come in." He sounds strict, but when doesn't he? His voice is naturally bone-chilling, it makes some agents cry. Michael's not like that, he can do this.

His hand turns the cold handle that contrasts to his clammy palm, sliding it open to reveal the shear office that's never changed for his past three years working here. It's all floor to ceiling windows on the back wall mounted on the sides are priceless paintings of who knows what. The floor is glossy mahogany in a rich brown color that pops against the white desk in the middle of everything.

Peter Stevenson. Son of Andrew Stevenson who founded this organization. He's stepping in his father's footsteps and taking the wheel on this company. He's in his mid-forties by now, and yet, not a single wrinkle on his face.

"Take a seat." He's directing Michael to sit in one of the white leather chairs, he slides into the plush seating and looks around the office.

"I've been informed that you are one of the top undercover agents in this building." Peter's thin lips narrow together as his hands clasp on top of his paperwork. "You also work with a rather renowned techie, yeah?"

"Luke's incredible at what he does." He nods, easing away from being so tense and actually relaxing a bit at his words.

"Your last mission wasn't completed correctly, but I have a proposition for you." He's opening a drawer to his right and picks out a manilla folder full to the brim.

"It's been turned down by other agents due to their preferences and lack of, well, expertise." His hand slides the folder across the desk for Michael to take and read for himself. The blonde worker did not expect this of all things.

"You'd be flying out to Adelaide for a good two days, the flight's first class, pre-paid."

And now Michael's very interested.

His thumb and forefinger flips open the folder and instantly understands why the other agents turned this down.

"Calum Hood?" His stomach drops at his name rolling off his tongue, it's sickening. "You expect me to take him down?"

"He's weaker than you think, I put all of his characteristics, interests, background, and other things to help you." He's nearly on the brink of begging him to do this and it's a real contrast to the usual austere features he has.

Michael's curious green eyes skim through a few of the papers he's talking about, a picture is paperclipped onto the corner of one sheet, Calum Hood's face is stone cold and shows zero emotions.

"Luke will be in your ear the entire time. He'll have the same exact information as you, just in case you forget." Peter's pulling out another folder for Luke to be given as well.

"What do I have to do?" Michael's not oblivious, something so risky and pricey is bound to have it's cons to outweigh all of the pros. This must be more than grabbing a file or hard drive.

"Rumor has it he's smuggling some illegal weaponry, supposedly meant to be used against our organization and then others that are after him." The strictness is back in his tone, laced into his husky voice, "We need proof, if it's a lie we send you back here, if it's true, we need him dead."

Michael's skin goes pale with fear, eyes lifting from the paperwork to raise his eyebrows at what he said. He's supposed to kill him if all of this is true? He has to actually kill one of the most well known rivals of this agency's entire history? Calum Hood, a man who can snap his fingers and have anyone he wants dead within seconds.

It's impossible. Even Michael knows he can't do this.

"Before you decline, we have a plan. Calum's also known for his affairs, we'll send you over to his business party, you have to attract him, get his attention. If you can, get him drunk, alcohol can always pull answers out of people. If he says anything suspicious you tell us asap."

Michael finds the packet describing the steps he's telling him right now.

"And my cover?" He's still lost over who he's supposed to be playing in this, he can't walk in there as a spy, that's just useless. He'll be shot down in seconds.

Peter goes tense, "He prefers his lovers to be somewhat. . .dependent." His words aren't being registered correctly, Michael's still not catching on. He clears his throat, "Like, with his money and such."

"So, I'm going as a sugar baby?" Michael says it casually with his smirk growing out of amusement. His eyebrow quirks up in interest and stares down at the pictures provided of this man, "He has all that money, gotta spend it somehow."

His joke makes Peter crack a small grin, a much less angry look in his eyes as he sighs.

"I know it's not ideal, but we scheduled a couple sessions for a more fitting look. Waxing, you'll need a different hair color, mani-pedi, and your clothes are already picked out and packed. So, will you do it?"

Michael contemplates whether or not this is a good move on his part. One wrong step and he's dead. Literally. If he acts even the slightest bit suspicious he'll be put on his radar and lose his trust. Trust is key in this, no trust, no truth.

"I'll do it."

-

He tells Luke the moment they're back at their shared apartment. That way no one else from the company overhears the top secret plan he's being put into.

They're lounging on the couch watching reruns of The Office when he speaks up about it, in his defense, Luke asked him how the meeting with Peter went and he had to tell him.

"Are you stupid?" The blonde is actually concerned about his friend's mindset and wellbeing, "Mike, you don't stand a chance."

"Yeah, but just imagine if I do it. If we do it! The money, the praise, we could be promoted. Everyone in the industry will know about us." He has the wildest dream of becoming famous for beating every bad guy's ass, it's not like he's horrible and never wins, he actually is a decent spy. Peter even told him he's one of the top undercover agents working for him. It's a possibility, a small one, but a possibility nonetheless.

"We head out tomorrow at five in the morning, plane leaves at six thirty." Michael's describing everything he knows to the blonde, whether it's necessary or unnecessary since he slips him his identical folder to look through. They both discuss the content inside for hours.

"He owns two yachts, seven different cars, three houses, and- holy shit- he has a private jet." Luke reads off one of the papers and eyes the next page with that same shocked yet interested look in his eyes, "Easy on the eyes, too."

Michael leans over to peer at the picture Luke's admiring, a photo of him in some tux of sorts, an expensive watch glaring against the flash of the photo as his fingers are adorned by just as luxurious rings. His hair is tamed and kept off of his face in a quiff of sorts. Showing his thick eyebrows and deep brown eyes. His lips are full and cherry red. If Michael was not jealous of how attractive Calum is before, he is now.

"Says his weaknesses are judgmental, remorseless. . .lust-driven?" Luke reads out loud but only skims over the sentence a couple times to see if he read that right, "So if you fuck him, he'll tell you everything about his plan?"

"I'm not gonna have sex with him."

"But look at him, sure he's killed hundreds of innocent people and has no heart whatsoever, but he's hot, anyone with eyes can see that. If you don't fuck him, I will." Luke's going through a few more pictures provided until he runs out and goes back to the paper listing his strengths and weaknesses.

"His strengths are intellect, perfectionism, and domineering." His lips form a focused pout, brushing past boring details and reading deeper into his background. It's nothing unusual. He grew up in the middle class, decent student, one sibling. Nothing from his past showed signs of him turning into someone so cruel and violent.

He reads another paragraph or two talking about his life entering college and he starts to see the little tweaks that changed.

"His sister died." The blonde clicks his red pen back on and underlines the sentence pointing it out, "Says he was close to her and flunked out of law school afterwords."

There's silence following after he says it and they both go stoic and let that sink in for a moment. It must've been unbearable, how close had he been to her for him to flunk out of college over it? Michael almost feels sorry for him. Almost.

He tries to find out if there's anything else to tell him about his sister. Like how she died, when she died, etc. He never finds anything, not even a picture of what she looked like.

"We should head to bed, I have a ton of appointments tomorrow." He's yawning to prove his lack of sleep.

"Appointments for what?"

"Gotta get a makeover, sweetcheeks." He teases slyly as his hand ruffles the blonde's hair in passing. He can feel his muscles ache the closer to his bedroom he gets.

-

"I look like the biggest douchebag in Australia." Michael's pacing around his booked hotel room, only a short distance away from the party that should be starting any minute now.

His eyes study his appearance in the mirror. The suit he's wearing is by far the most expensive thing to ever be put on his body. The get up is a simple suit and tie, a white button down with black slacks and coat, polished dress shoes, and a tie to top it all off.

"You always look like a douchebag." Luke's relaxed in the bed, still in his loungewear since he's gonna be in this hotel room all night. He does everything online, he doesn't need to be there in person to do his job.

"Shut up, give me my earpiece."

He's fixing his hair in the mirror while Luke groans at being told what to do. Apparently his makeover included bleaching his hair and turning it into a deep red color that screams the complete opposite of subtle. Most of his missions including laying low, but this time he needs to stand out. Calum's going to be focused on his fellow workers, he has to catch his eye tonight or else he's gonna fail again. His boss is counting on him for this.

"Car's waiting down in valet." Luke helps hook the beige colored earpiece onto Michael, moving his fringe to hide it somehow. Luckily the color is decently close to his skin shade but it's not that noticeable in the first place.

"This one has a mic in it, I'll be able to pick up anyone who's talking face to face with you." Luke's hand claps his shoulder to send him off to the car waiting in valet, "Go get 'em."

There's a little hesitancy in Michael's steps, but he shakes it off when he exits the building, phone in his hand and a tracker stitched into his button down. His free hand keeps twitching and his other one is clammy as he texts Luke to seriously stop testing the ear piece because he hates hearing the clicking keyboards sounds and the sound of him eating cereal obnoxiously.

The car is chauffeured by an old guy named Hughe and he makes very small chit chat on the way down, seemingly oblivious to where he's taking him.

"Don't forget, your name is Michael Jacobs. Not Clifford." Luke's still clicking away but at least the chewing stopped, his voice is loud but only the redhead can hear it. "You're the second son of Phillip Jacobs, Calum's not at all significant low class worker. He couldn't make it for personal reasons so you went in his place."

"Mhm." Michael hums lowly as the car pulls up to the place he's supposed to be meeting Calum at.

"Holy shit, it's a yacht." He says it under his breath while Hughe is shuffling out of the car to reel around the corner and let him out.

"Lucky." The blonde murmurs, "This room service is shit, and you're gonna be on a luxurious yacht."

The car door clicks open and he's sliding out onto the boardwalk which leads towards a lengthy line as they all wait to board the sleek, white yacht with gold and silver accents.

There's low murmurs of conversations. Hughe is driving off to who knows where, meanwhile the men with their glorious wives and girlfriends all discuss things about their cruise trips around the Caribbean and going out to their penthouses in New York. Michael is jealous and feels rather embarrassed that he hasn't done anything like that in his life yet.

The line moves steadily, he watches people get thrown out of the line by body guards and he nearly passes out at the idea of it happening to him.

Surprisingly, no one tries to approach each other unless they already know one another. So Michael's preparing his list of imaginary vacations he's taken until he's face to face with a very burly guard holding a clipboard.

"Name?" His voice is thick with his Australian accent, it's intimidating but Michael masks his fear. 

"Michael Jacobs." His teeth nibble on his bottom lip.

The man flips the paper to read another list and then sighs, "Go on." He moves out of the way to let him up the ramp of the boat and he's nearly drowning in a crowd of people all smelling like roses and cigars. There's classical and jazz playing as workers share cocktails and champagne.

He can't find a single trace of Calum and he's already weaving his way through the front of the boat. An already piss drunk girl stumble onto him, apologizes, then wobbles her way back to a group of other just as drunk girls laughing over her messy appearance.

"Woah, woah, wait." Luke speaks suddenly, Michael steps dead in his tracks and pretends to find a potted plant interesting. "That guy, at the bar, glasses, curly hair."

The blonde must have hacked into the camera systems because Michael notices a little camera blinking in his peripheral vision.

He turns to find this guy he described and his hands go to his pockets as he nods, "Yeah?"

"Ashton Irwin. Calum's colleague, practically his sidekick in this business. Befriend him, right now, but be casual about it." The blonde's yapping while Michael starts to walk towards this guy, he's in a grey suit attire, he has stubble gracing his jaw and chin but it's more clean cut than one may expect.

Michael slides into the stool next to him and asks the bartender for a miller light, then taps his fingers on the wood of the counter. In no particular rhythm, but it goes along to the jazz music playing close enough to make it seem like he knows the song.

"I swear, these parties get bigger every time he throws one." Ashton's sipping his glass of beer while Michael gets his slid onto the counter for him.

"Yeah?" Michael smirks and swigs his beer, it's metallic taste stays on his tongue. "I wouldn't know."

The curly blonde piques a brow, "This is your first? New employee?"

"Uh, no, actually, my father works here. He's out for personal reasons, sent me to fill in for him." His eyes do a quick once over of Ashton's body and sips some more of his drink.

"You plan on following in his footsteps one day?" Ashton's very welcoming despite the snobbiness of his appearance. "We could use some extra hands, could show you the ropes."

"I wish he'd show me the ropes." Luke mumbles it into his ear, the redhead sputters some of his beer and coughs afterwords.

"Hey, I know this business isn't ideal, but look at what Calum got out of this." He gestures to the yacht which is no longer docking and is now smoothly sailing out into the ocean. Michael forgot how much he hates being out in the sea.

"He started off as an apprentice, now he's the boss." There's the sound of someone walking closer and he doesn't think much of it until he's being isolated.

A body, much broader than his, is stepping in between him and Ashton, a palm lands down on the counter with his fingers splayed apart, he can't see the man's face but he can smell cigarettes and a very hefty amount of cologne.

They talk lowly and Michael has to scan his surroundings and try to find Calum in the crowd once more, the sun is barely in the sky, just a tiny bit is providing light for the time being.

All of a sudden Ashton's peering around the man to look at him face to face, "I was just telling this guy about you."

His green eyes are skimming away from the crowd to trail up the body of this man, blue suit and silver tie facing him now as the gold cufflinks glint off of the sun and now it's all stringing together. This is Calum Hood.

He nearly flatlines when he gets to his face, he's even more attractive in person. Glowing brown skin, rich curls of raven colored hair, his lips are full and look far too kissable to keep Michael's brain from imagining how they'd feel against his.

Their eyes lock, a total austere complexion burning down on him, now Calum's studying every aspect of him, just not as subtly. He practically tears Michael apart with his eyes, and not in a sexy way. It looks like he can see right through him.

He's about to open his mouth and introduce himself when two fingers hook under his chin and lift his head up so he can meet his eyes.

"Don't look like you're scared of him, fucking flirt, dumbass." Luke reminds him about his presence and immediately his appearance switches to less scared shock and more of an intrigued shock.

"And you would be?"

Fuck. Michael's mind screams it over and over. His voice is husky and deep, he sounds hotter than he wanted him to.

"Michael." He musters up the courage to speak and does a once over of the man's appearance so he can see him do it this time. "I've heard a lot about you." He tries to sound sexy.

"Lean in, I can't hear what he's saying." Luke's probably lying, he's better at flirting despite being cooped up in hotel rooms and basements to code and hack shit. He should be the one dragging Calum along, not Michael.

The redhead takes his comment and hooks his leg around the maori's so he can pull him closer. Calum is following his movements smoothly, a sly smirk curves onto his face.

"All good things I'd hope?" He takes his hand once under the boy's chin and slips it to his side instead.

"Debatable." The redhead cranes his neck up and tilts his head to the side. He purses his lips when he gets Calum to give a short laugh under his breath.

"Well, Michael, forgive me but I can't say I know much about you." He holds onto his hip tighter, "What branch do you work in?"

"My father works for you, he sent me here instead." He rambles it off shyly, dropping their gaze so he can look at his beer that's only a quarter down.

"Who's your father?" He's curious, this is good. He has all of his attention.

"Phillip Jacobs. I'm his second son."

"He never told me about his second son." Calum's hand is gripping his hip with enough of a hold to bruise. His lips hang open as he waits for him to reply.

"Yeah, my dad doesn't boast about his unemployed gay son that much." He shrugs it off and hides his face, he's grown quite good at acting since he's worked in this field.

Calum is even more shocked, "Unemployed?"

"Why get a job when someone can make money themselves to spend on you instead?" He bats his eyelashes and stares up through them to seal the deal.

Calum's hand loosens on his waist, sliding down to his thigh with rough fingertips drumming against his leg.

"I actually dated this one guy about a year ago, had a yacht like yours, too." He finds it quite easy to get under his skin, pushing at his buttons, those ebony eyes glance around the scene before he drops his head down so their foreheads nearly touch.

"Sweetheart, no one has what I have." His voice is rough and he leaves Michael suffocating, speechless. He's much more alluring in person, no wonder so many other people fall under his spell. His hand gives a quick tug of his thigh so he can bring himself closer in between Michael's legs.

"I could give you so much more than those guys." His lips hang open after he speaks as if he'll lean in and kiss him any second now. He smells like cigarettes and it's intoxicating him right now. His whole body screams yes while his mind only reminds him that this isn't real, this is a job, he's supposed to kill Calum tonight.

"Holy shit, Michael, get him drunk, right now." Luke snaps him out of it far too soon for his liking. 

The redhead smiles up at him, "Do you want a drink?" He offers his own beer to make things easier, then watches the way Calum smirks at how he changed subjects. He can feel his face heat up at the disgusted look he gives the beer in his hands.

"No, not beer, too cheap." He's jerking his head to the side when he adds on, "Come on, I have something better up in my bedroom."

He doesn't know what to say as he's being brought up onto two feet, now very aware of the height difference, a good four inches, actually. He'd have to go on his tippy toes to kiss him. But he has the perfect leverage to bite at his neck.

They're weaving their way through the crowd slowly. He makes sure to flaunt Michael off, hand latched around his waist as he greets a few people here and there. He's not introducing Michael, though, no one else is really introducing their partners either.

He listens to the way the people talk to Calum. It's all very forced, they're terrified. He only gets a few actual authentic responses.

Out of nowhere, while some old man in his sixties starts yapping Calum's ear off about his vacation in France, the maori gives a very harsh tug on Michael's ass. He gasps and has to hide his face in the brunette's shoulder.

Luke's laughing in his ear, "He shoots, he scores."

Michael nearly rips out his earpiece, but he doesn't. He's nice like that.

"Roger, it was great catching up with you." Calum's backing away from him as he says it and waves with his free hand before opening a door that leads to a staircase, he locks it behind him at the same time Michael heads up the stairs with him following like a lost puppy.

He swings open the door at the top of the few steps and is greeted with a master bedroom, the walls all a golden beige hue with a king sized bed in the middle, black silk sheets and pillowcases as he instantly feels Calum approach him and wrap his arms around his sides.

"You like red wine?" Calum's steering around him to a shelf of many different wine bottles along with glasses hung for his use. He slips two off of the shelf and searches for his wine of choice.

"Love it." He lies straight through his teeth.

"Chateau lafite?" He picks one of the bottles and reads off the label to see if Michael's alright with it.

He hears Luke typing, "That single bottle is four grand."

"Quite the luxury, hm?" He watches the way the maori screws off the cork with a pop and pours the glasses each halfway.

"Only the best for you." Calum hands him the glass and wanders towards the bed for comfort, his lips sip the wine in small portions, but Michael needs to move this along.

"So," Michael forces some of the smooth wine down his throat and pretends it doesn't taste bitter, "How does someone like you end up with all of this?"

His feet are carrying him closer to the bed, green eyes watching the way the liquid swishes around in the glass he's holding.

A laugh escapes Calum, "Blood, sweat, and tears, baby."

"Lot's of blood, yeah?" Michael's taking notice in the way the maori looks down at the ruby red color of his drink, how it almost resembles the deep red blood in his veins.

"Are you assuming I've killed people?" He smirks when saying it, he's not offended, they all know it's true.

Michael starts to get onto the bed, glass in hand, and straddle his thighs so they're face to face again.

"I've heard rumors." Michael lies, "Is it not true?"

Calum's hooded eyes stare at his glass before swigging it some more, a gulp makes his adam's apple bob and Michael really hates how his heart skips a beat when he sees it happen.

When he's down to only a few sips left in his glass, he stops.

"Would you hate me if they were?" He sounds a lot less cold, suddenly his voice is weaker and his hand clutches the wine bottle tightly. Maybe if he tenses a bit more it'll shatter. His knuckles burn white.

"Never." He leans in closer to capture Calum's lips in his, tasting the bitter wine he just drank along with nicotine, his eyes shutting as his hand not holding a glass slides to Calum's shirt.

He untucks the dress shirt and instantly begins to go through and pluck out each button until they're all undone. His lips pull apart but Calum connects them again, eager this time, Luke's saying something in his ear but it's whitenoise to him, he only peeks his eyes open wide enough to see the way Calum's hand is trailing to his ass.

"Wait, wait," Michael breaks apart before he can get dragged into something he really shouldn't be in. His hand falls to Calum's bare chest, his tie is loosened but not undone, his whole torso is revealed. Two tattoos he had never known were there are all he can focus on.

"Too soon?" Calum's worried that he was going too fast, and if he wasn't a murderer Michael would've found it endearing.

Luke's voice pipes up in his ear as he pretends to think, "There's a gun, in his coat pocket."

Michael's lips part to say something because when this is pointed out he instantly flickers his gaze over to the disheveled tuxedo coat he's wearing, a glint of silver catches against the very minimal lighting. He moves his hand to run over the object and turns his head up to look at Calum.

"It's not for-" He tries to say something, anything, because Michael's too good to let go for him. Especially, over this. "It's not for you. I keep it, just in case."

"Just in case what?" He plays dumb, this can't be anything easy anymore. If he has to kill Calum tonight, him being armed as well makes this so much harder.

"Don't be worried, okay? Some bad people are after me is all."

Michael wants to kill him then and there. Nearly takes the pistol pressed against his hand and just shoot him. The urge is eating at him to scream. Calum thinks he is bad? He couldn't be more wrong.

"Bad people?" The redhead is going quiet.

"It's nothing, don't worry."

He finishes off his glass as Michael tips his glass to Calum's lips, letting him drink some of his as he gives a small grin, "Okay."

There's a knock on the door that makes the maori curse and tell them to come in. Michael's more than embarrassed when he sees Ashton approaching.

"Um, Jared's got something very important to tell you." He sees Michael and clears his throat, "In private."

"It can wait." Calum doesn't even spare a glance towards the man in the doorway, he's too caught up in admiring Michael's piercing green eyes that contrast his bold red hair.

"No, it can't." Ashton seethes. He checks behind him for any eavesdroppers then lowers his voice to a whisper, "There's supposedly a mole on the ship."

"Fuck." Luke blurts into his ear. "Don't panic."

Michael's heart nearly lurches from his chest, skipping a beat or two in the process as Calum's jaw twitches from gritting it. His hand lands on his hip and squeezes at Michael's side to pull him off of his lap.

"I want everyone on look out, when you find them kill them. Drown them, shoot them, I don't care. Just make sure they don't live." He buttons his shirt back up and fixes himself in the mirror.

He's pulling his own pistol out and checks the bullets, it's fully loaded. Michael's mind is going through so many different things right now, all revolving around the gun in the man's hands.

"Can I help?" Michael's standing from the bed, jumping at the opportunity to try and seem unsuspicious.

The brunette looks at him and Ashton bites the inside of his cheek before heading out to alert anyone who can be of use. They're alone again. Calum's eyes are wide and his hands cup Michael's face gently.

"No, not right now, sweetheart. Can't risk you getting hurt. Stay here, I'll lock you in."

He's protecting him?

Michael watches the maori hesitate before placing a kiss on his forehead, his lips lingering over where he just kissed after a moment or two of silence.

"I'll be back soon." He leaves out the door swiftly, the sound of a click is heard to signify the door being locked.

"Should I snoop?" Michael murmurs it just in case anyone may be leering outside the room, his body already backing toward a dresser.

"Be fast. I'll track him and let you know when he's on his way back."

He pulls it open and sees regular clothes he'd expect him to have. More dress shirts and button downs. A watch is thrown into the mix as well. It's probably priceless by the looks of it. After rummaging through the rest he comes up empty-handed.

"You really weren't shy with kissing him, huh?"

"I have to play the part." Michael seethes.

He slumps down onto his knees and pats around under the bed, a cold object grazes his hands and he curses. Then, with a few more pats, pulls it out from underneath the bed.

It's another pistol, but this one has dried blood on the handle. His hand holds onto it and flicks the safety switch on and off before checking if it's loaded. One bullet remains.

"He found someone," Luke is speaking quietly, "A girl, she's running away from him."

He slips the pistol back under the bed and hums to let Luke know he's listening, the only other place to look would be in the little cupboards that obviously had wine in them. There's nothing here to tell him if Calum's gonna send hell his way back at headquarters.

"He's gonna kill her, oh my go-" Before the blonde can finish his statement a gunshot fires from nearby, Michael's body doesn't flinch, he's used to that noise. He stands back up and sighs, time to get back into character.

"Shit, right in her skull." Luke hisses, "He's going back up the stairs."

The noise of the lock being fumbled with confirms his words when Calum reenters with a hurried stature, shutting the door fast enough that it slams and locks it once more.

His body leans against it to relax, he's pocketing his gun and fixing his hair.

"More wine?" Michael grins and pours a glass back up, now filling it three quarters up so they can get this moving along some more. It's dark outside, he needs to be out of here in the morning with answers.

"Yes, please." Calum takes the glass and instantly starts drinking.

"I was hoping you'd tell me more about yourself." The grin on his face is something he's mastered when he has to persuade people, something in between curiosity and sensuality. It gets them hooked.

"I'm not that interesting." Calum's eyes avoid him and decides to carry this conversation back over to the bed, bringing the wine with him to keep by the nightstand.

Michael barks out a laugh, "That is the biggest lie. We're on a yacht right now, you literally kill people, and you're drowning in money. Don't act humble."

To try and enjoy the wine he takes another sip, eyeing the way Calum lays down on the bed, ankles crossed. He joins him, making sure they're close enough that the mic picks everything up, leaning in closer than he would normally be comfortable with.

"I was taught to be humble, sweetheart." His hand finds Michael's side, running his fingertips up and down to unintentionally calm him.

"Did your mommy teach you?" Michael teases.

"Uhm, no, actually, my sister did." Calum's finished his second glass, he should start to at least loosen up and the fact he's talking about his dead sister should be a sure enough sign.

"Your sister? A family man, eh?" His eyes make sure to stay innocent. He can't let him see that he knows every little detail about his upbringing.

"Used to be, at least." The maori's smile falters and Michael brings his hand to his cheek.

"I know how it feels." The green in his eyes is all Calum can focus on. He can feel the way the maori is growing attached to him. It's palpable.

"No, my family's all dead." Calum cuts straight to the point and Michael's lips part in shock. He can hear Luke gasp in his ear. He feels his face heat up with the embarrassment just hearing him say that.

"Fuck, I didn't know his parents were dead, too." Luke's flipping through pages as he says it and Michael's thinking the same thing.

"Sorry, I don't know why I just said that. I'm not usually so blunt." Calum's turning to refill their glasses, Michael follows his movements. Delicately smoothing down his arm.

"You can talk about it, I'm here." He places his other hand on the bed for leverage leaning in so his chin hooks over Calum's shoulder. "I won't judge."

"No, I mean, not many people know and it's not exactly something I tell people I just met."

"Don't you trust me?" Michael steals his attention away from the wine, pulling him back so he's facing him again. "Because I trust you so, so much."

Michael's lips ghost over his and Calum's eyes fall shut at the same time he leans in, kissing him slowly. He isn't a bad kisser, in fact it's one of the most enjoyable kisses he's had. He wouldn't mind making out for a little while longer. But he has to make some progress.

"My mom and dad passed away in a plane crash last year." He breathes it out in one sigh as Michael nods and runs the pad of his thumb over the maori's bottom lip. The alcohol in him is a life saver. Practically has him obeying Michael's every word.

"My sister died when I first started my business in college, someone got to her and killed her right in front of me." His eyes are wide when he says it and afterwords he stares into Michael's eyes.

"That's horrible." His heart sympathizes for him, "Who would do something like that?"

"There's this company, a rival, more or less. Nexus Headquarters-"

Michael nearly feels his lungs shrivel from how fast he holds his breath, his heart pounds. He barely catches onto his next few words, focusing on calming down for too long until his mind zones back into what he's saying.

"-practically tore her out of the house and tried to use her as bait, once I got there she was beaten and bruised, they killed her, three gunshots."

Calum's hands travel to the wine after he's done, "More wine?"


	2. Do You Promise?

"Jesus Christ, he makes us sound like the bad guys." Luke's mumbling in his ear. His ear piece feels like it's burning, it's on fire and he can't take it. He wants to leave. He can't do this.

"Wine, yes." He takes it with a lot less excitement, taking a longer swig as he watches Calum observe his stature.

"I hope that didn't weird you out." He swishes the red drink around in his hand, "I just. . . trust you."

With that said he brings his lips to Michael's once again, rougher this time, pushing him back with the force as he leans him down onto the bed, already slipping his tongue into his mouth to catch all of the moans he lets slip out.

"Hook, line, and sinker." Luke's laughing, hell he's moved on from the real fucking issue to find amusement in the way Michael's squirming. "Ashton's gonna walk in again."

There's three knocks on the door to prove his point.

Ashton enters despite not being told to, a lot less in a hurry and much more relaxed as he smiles at the two, "Boss, why aren't you enjoying the party? Got so many people wondering where the hell you are."

"I'll be down in a few." Calum's neck is craned as he explains, Michael's lips feverishly attached to his throat to suck a hickey into his skin.

Ashton nods, "No rush."

Michael's hand goes for Calum's ass in his dress pants, squeezing at it while the maori gives a husky laugh.

"Have you been drinking?" Ashton's still here, jesus christ, how dependent is he on his boss?

"Three glasses down, plenty more to go." Calum's eyes blissfully shut, relishing in Michael's lips nipping at his neck. His hands trail down to grip his waist, lifting the redhead closer so their crotches touch.

"Don't drink anymore, you need to act professional." His body backs up to leave, "This is a business party, not a frat party." The door shuts.

"Jealous prick." Calum's grinds his hips down, "How 'bout you blow me before we head down?"

Michael's lips stop kissing and he gasps at the friction, "U-Um, we should go now." His hands stop the maori, "Sex later."

"Making me wait." Calum smirks, "I like that."

Michael slips off the bed and brushes over his outfit to make sure he's not too disheveled for it to be obvious.

"Do you have a bathroom somewhere?" Michael's lying, covering up the fact he just needs to talk to Luke right now.

"Down the stairs, to the left. First door."

Calum's finishing off his glass the moment Michael glances one last time before following the directions given.

He gets out his phone, panicking as he pretends to be calling someone, the first door on the left is revealed and he swings it open, luckily no one's in here, and locks it soon after.

"Gotta speed things up, no time for sentimental chit chat." Luke's tsking. As if this is all his fault. Calum was the one who told him and got deep for a minute or two.

"Trust me I wanna get this done and over with just as much as you do." Michael hastily checks his appearance in the mirror, his kiss swollen lips and untucked shirt give it away. As he works with his button down he speaks, "If you think it's so easy why don't you do it?"

"Fair enough." The blonde's growing impatient, but it's understandable. He wouldn't wanna sit in a chair all day listening to two people make out for hours with no progress being made.

"I don't wanna suck his dick." Michael groans and fixes his fringe a bit. "I may be gay but I'd like to get to know someone before giving them a blowjob."

"He's obviously attracted to you, just bring up his work some more and casually ask if he has any big plans coming up." Luke's eating more food again, the munching sound makes Michael want to scream.

"Oh, yeah, hey Calum I was wondering if you could tell me about your top secret plans against my workplace." He sarcastically mocks him back. "He may be drunk but he's not that drunk."

"Just go back out there, he looks like a lost puppy without you."

"Clingy." The redhead rolls his eyes and leaves the room, pretending to hang up on his phone and proceed to where Calum stands, leaning against the railing of the yacht with lost eyes wandering over the crowd.

"Did you miss me?" Michael perks up beside him so he can place their chests together.

"More than ever." The maori smirks down at him, undressing him in his mind from head to toe. He can't hide the look on his face that says it all. The alcohol really loosens him up.

"Mr. Hood," A voice joins their conversation, an older man, mid fifties, greying hair slicked back with a trophy wife by his side.

"Who the fuck let you on here?" Calum's teeth grit down as his head snaps to stare at him.

"Your security could be a bit better." The man trails his gaze away from Calum so he can stare at Michael instead, "And who might you be?"

Calum's arm pulls the redhead out of his view, the maori's body acting as a barrier between him and the man.

"He's the prettiest one yet, Hood." He's peering around his body to smirk at Michael's weary stature.

"Holy shit," Luke nearly yells it into his ear and the redhead jumps a little at the volume, "That's Mark. He got fired from HQ last year."

"Have I met you before?" The man goes to step towards him but Calum's hand meets his chest to hold him back.

"Don't answer him."

"I swear I've seen your face back at-"

"I don't even know you." Michael's body shuffles closer to Calum, attempting to hide his face. He can feel his face heat up. He can't blow his cover. He's so close.

"Hood, he's not who you think he is." Mark's back to getting all up in Calum's face, "He's a liar, he's a fake, kill him, right now."

"I don't know you." Michael puts on some theatrics, tearing up a little bit to seal the deal, his hand tugs on the brunette's coat, "I would never lie to you, baby."

He turns around and faces him, those dark brown eyes are similar to the ones in his picture back in his manilla folder. Luke's talking to him in his ear but he can't focus on anything except the rapid thud of his heart as he sees the way the maori studies his every move. He fucked up. They should've stayed in his room. He should have never taken this mission. He's about to die.

"Don't you trust me?" He just about cries after saying it, a tear falls but not because he feels betrayed, no, it's because he's terrified right now.

"He works for Nexus." Mark tries to bring himself back into this but Calum doesn't budge.

He's stone cold. A statue of tense muscles and callous features. He can feel his body burn and itch to run but his instinct is to fight. It's who he is, it's what he does for a living, he could kill him right now. He knows Calum has a gun, he can steal it, he can shoot him right between those heartless brown eyes.

"Calum," The boy tries to calm him down, somehow unable to look away from his stare, "Let's just go back to the bedroom." He works up a weak smile, "Please, he's scaring me."

"Baby, you haven't seen scary." Calum's stepping towards him slowly, heavy steps that feel like they're being lead up to Michael's impending doom. He's backing away from him until he can feel the railing of the yacht hit his back.

"Why don't you believe me?" Michael sniffles, cupping his cheeks so he can try and soothe him, "I'd believe you."

"Go to my room." He presses his lips against his for a few seconds before the redhead nods and does as told, still wiping a few stray tears. He never feared for his life until just then and he's been held at gunpoint and nearly thrown out of helicopters and buildings multiple times.

"You okay?" Ashton's joining his side soon after he's out of earshot from his boss. The redhead sniffles, nodding softly.

"He scared me." Michael's bottom lip wobbles, still trying his best to play the part. Now there's no room for mistakes.

Ashton's hand finds his arm, "He's just confused, let him work things out. Believe it or not, he does shit like this a lot. He won't actually kill you, he gets a little weak when it comes to holding someone at gunpoint." The man leans down so he can whisper the rest to him, "But you didn't hear it from me."

No wonder he'd hate holding people at gunpoint, his sister died that way. It's understandable. Sad, but understandable.

"Hey, believe me, I haven't seen Calum look this happy in a long time. Mark's just a dick and ruined his mood."

"Why don't you tell him my whole life story while you're at it?" Calum's approaching the two with anger in his eyes. "Lucky you didn't tell that mole anything important."

Michael's smile falters and he has to hold back a laugh. If only they knew.

"Oh, like I'm the idiot in this situation, you're the one who lacks the proper security." Ashton snaps jokingly. "It's not like I told the mole about your plans back at base."

Michael perks up in his posture at that, this is getting close to being done and over with. He can get the information he needs.

"Hey, baby, let's head upstairs." Calum grabs him by the hip and heads for the stairs, "Fire the security guard when we dock."

The walk back up into his room is quiet until the door shuts, because Calum's hands are pulling him close so his lips can suck the spot just below his jaw. Michael's fear dissipates as he hears the man murmur an apology against his skin. Eyes shutting in bliss when Calum loosens the tie around his neck so it unravels and hits the floor.

Michael doesn't know if it's because he's a teeny bit drunk or the fact that he's kissing him in all the right places but by the time he feels his lips leave his body he somehow ended up on the bed underneath him.

The maori hovers above him and hastily unbuttons his shirt so it can go on the ground, all that's left are his pants. His shoes and socks now littered onto the floor too. How long was he under the trance of those kisses on his neck? He doesn't have time to answer his question when he's leaning down once again.

"Calum," Michael breathes out, "Please."

Luke's laughing in his ear, so he flicks it off and deactivates it for the night and let's Calum feel him up and down. His hands are calloused and cold and Michael shivers from the touch. He carefully takes off his own clothes, making sure his own gun stays hidden in the inner pocket of his coat and sets it on the floor. He kisses Calum deeply to hide the fact he's doing it.

His heart beats a mile a minute in his chest the moment he realizes what he's about to do, and when the maori is discarding his own boxers onto the floor, he's moaning weakly. He's doing this for work, he's a lust-driven man. That's at least what he tells himself.

"Fuck me." His hands find Calum's built chest, just now taking in the fact that everything he said he wouldn't do is about to happen. He's so lucky his boss can't see this. Luke can't either, there's not a trace of a camera in this room. Shutting off the earpiece was a signal in itself for him to buzz off.

"Eager, aren't we?" Calum's sliding on a condom as he says this, and Michael just about yelps at the sudden feeling of him thrusting without his own body being prepped for this. The stretch is painful and it burns. He hates how fast his eyes tear up from it, blinking them away as he tries to get used to the feeling. He struggles to catch his breath after a few more thrusts that begin to somewhat ease the pain.

"You asked, sweetheart." He grunts it out matter-of-factly, his own mind going back to the feeling of how tight he is and moaning. He can't remember the last time this felt so good. The hands on his body, the sound of Michael moaning underneath him. It's all so hot.

The redhead tries to bite back a snarky remark, his own thoughts steering back to sex when he feels Calum's hands lift his hips up to hit him deeper. Those brown eyes scrunching shut above him as he seethes and curses in low mumbles. He's got both hands on his sides, holding him tight enough to bruise.

"Oh, fuck." Michael drops his jaw as he digs his nails into Calum's shoulders to try and hold himself back from actually screaming. It feels like his whole body is on fire. A hot, burning fire. A match that sparks between them.

The black silk duvet slides against his bare skin when he turns his head to the side, jaw dropped open, still trying to adjust to the feeling. Calum's hair is bunched into his one hand as the other reaches out and holds onto his bicep for some form of a grip. He can hear the sound of classical music faintly, but it drowns out again when the maori moans hotly into his ear, leaning down to do so with his lips kissing his neck sloppily.

"Feel so good," Calum mumbles against his collarbone. Michael uses his position to his advantage and nips at the maori's ear.

Before he has time to whisper something to him Calum brings a hand to his jaw, holding it forcefully as he yanks his chin so their eyes can meet. He looks just about ready to kill him, it's hot and scary at the same time. Michael hates the fact he moans quietly over what's happening right now.

"Did you lie?" Calum grits it out as he gives slow thrusts that make his words go fuzzy in Michael's mind.

"What?"

"Did you lie to me? Do you know him?"

Michael remembers how they ended up here. How he thought he got off on a limb from the Mark situation outside of this bedroom. His eyes flutter shut as he feels Calum go deeper.

The maori senses his lack of focus and yanks on his jaw again, those dilated green eyes opening wide as he squirms and lets out a gasp.

"I'd never lie to you." He breathes it out as his hips work in time with Calum's thrusts to feel the fire between them grow bigger and bigger.

"Do you promise?" Calum looks at him with a sharp stare, something falters in those eyes, worry, maybe fear. All Michael can see is a hazy reflection of himself within them.

"I promise." He gets his jaw freed once he says it and Calum picks up his pace once more, broad shoulders hovering over him as he gets them both closer.

Michael latches his lips against the brunette's full ones, longingly moaning against him every time he hits his weak spot.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Calum's face screws together as he starts to hold onto Michael rougher, speeding up his thrusts in the process to get faster and harder each time he hits the boy's weak spot over and over.

Michael's trembling, and probably bruising, by the time he feels himself reel over the edge of his climax, whimpering the maori's name in between his heavy breaths. Panting into the crook of Calum's neck as he comes onto his own stomach, the sight only making the brunette moan and release inside of him. Their bodies fall together, not caring about the mess that was made.

Calum kisses his cheek lazily before moving, half asleep already as he wipes both of their bodies down with a nearby towel. The party is still going on but he only throws the covers over their naked bodies and brings Michael into his arms.

He can feel the way the red haired boy folds into him, as if they were used to being in the same bed and assuming a position such as this. He can feel the way his breathing slowly but surely levels out into gentle huffs of breath that fan over his chest as he falls into sleep. He can feel the way his own heart twists and tugs when he studies the way his eyelashes fall over his cheeks.

He doesn't understand how Michael could pull him into something so fast. He doesn't understand how Michael understands him.

-

Michael wakes up to the sound of talking, a one sided conversation, to be more specific. His head is pounding but when he blinks a few times and sees Calum sitting on the edge of the bed. The man's bare body draped lazily with covers, his back exposed as he talks on the phone.

"It's not a difficult concept, you go to the door, type in the code, and then put the money in the vault." Calum's growling into the phone but makes sure to stay quiet for the sake of Michael's sleep. The sun is peeking it's way into the room. The yacht is quiet. Did everyone leave?

"I have plans for today, I can't just get off my yacht and-" He stops, the person on the other line is interrupting him. His sigh fills the room and Michael takes this as his chance to stir a little in the bed, his hand once tucked under the pillow reaches out to trace down Calum's arm. He flinches at the touch but when he sees Michael's hand on top of his he smiles and holds onto it.

"I can schedule a meeting for another day this week but today won't happen. I'll drop by but nothing else, alright?" Calum lifts Michael's hand up and places soft kisses against the back of his hand, a gentle motion of smoothing his thumb over where he had kissed him as well.

"Okay," He grins, "Yup, see you later." His phone is going back down onto the nightstand and he finally turns to face Michael fully.

"Did I wake you?" The maori is prepared to apologize, his eyebrows rose up and his eyes flashed with worry.

The redhead nods, but smiles as he does it, the sound of the waves in the ocean splashing against the boat as they both sway slightly makes him jolt a little bit.

"And we have docked." Calum stands from the bed and begins to get dressed, slipping underwear on with sensual ease. "C'mon sweetheart, I'll take you back to my place for the day, you can get a nice shower and rest while I run a few errands."

"Wanna stay with you." Michael lies, he can't let him out of his sight. He could be going to his HQ and he could definitely do some snooping there. If Calum lets him inside he's practically in undercover heaven. No one gets into his base unless he allows it.

"I don't wanna bore you, baby."

"You won't. I like spending time with you." Dependent. Michael knows that he likes people who depend on him. He can sense the way Calum warms up to the idea of it after he says that, watches the excitement that bounces inside of him like a game of pinball.

"Okay." He smiles, "I'd quite like that." He's already picking out a new pair of slacks and a button down, "In that case, we're stopping by my office for some paperwork, I have to run out and get my dry cleaning, then we're grabbing lunch around noon. It's supposed to rain later on in the afternoon so I suppose we'll be home before then."

Just as he finishes his statement Michael's phone takes it's turn to ring. It rattles against the nightstand and his heart full on drops when he sees Luke's name and remembers how he left him hanging. He shut off his ear piece.

"Oh, shit, I have to take this." Michael stands quickly, his underwear on the floor is getting tugged back up his legs. "It's my dad." He lies.

Calum nods and continues getting dressed with no rush whatsoever as Michael slips out the door and ambles his way down to the bottom of the stairs but doesn't exit any further.

"Hey, before you say anything I just wanna say I'm sorry and-"

"Is he gonna kill us?" Luke intervenes. He's pissed off. "Because Peter needs to know right now."

"I. . .I don't know." He feels it all snowball inside of him worse and worse until the problem is too big to run from and it crushes him. He never got any information.

"You don't know? Michael this isn't a fucking joke. I need to tell him before we're fired."

"I forgot, okay?" The redhead barks it out and has to restrain from screaming at him some more. "I just forgot."

"You fucked him instead of getting answers. Time's up, Michael. You fucking failed. Strike three, we're out."

His stomach is uneasy and he has to take a deep breath and try to anchor himself. Was he always this seasick? Or is this just now becoming prevalent to him? The humid, salty air is making his eyes burn, or maybe that's the tears welling within them.

"Tell him I need a few more days. Tell him-" He can see the dock through the window of the door, four guards standing and waiting for Calum's arrival to escort him. He sucks in a sharp breath, "Tell him I need more time."

There's a long pause in their conversation. It feels like an eternity before he answers.

"Four days." Luke sighs. "Don't lose focus on what's important."

The line runs dead and Michael has to lean against the wall of the stairway to try and assess the situation. If he's going to the base he has to cause some form of diversion to buy himself some time. If he can get himself into those secret plans files that Ashton talked about, he's in the clear. But who knows how long it'll take to find them.

He groans and treads his way back into the room where Calum stands in the middle of, his different suit being of a navy blue variety. A silver tie to accentuate the color some more. He's dressed to impress (and intimidate).

He's polishing a gun when Michael enters, the one that Michael found under his bed once stained with blood is now sparkling in his palm.

"Everything alright?" He asks, sensing the stress written across Michael's pale face.

The redhead gives a curt nod and rushes to get dressed into his clothes from yesterday, Calum's stashing the gun into his inner coat pocket. The brunette checks the time on his pristine watch while Michael finishes tidying himself up.

As he's fixing his hair in the mirror he discretely flips the microphone back on in his ear, he hopes Luke doesn't hate him for this. He knows it's all his fault but he just lost track of time. It wasn't going to be an overnight mission, Peter should've known that. Calum's not gonna drop everything about this over some pretty face and some sex. He needs to establish a relationship and trust.

"Ready?" The maori licks his lips and holds the door open for him.

All Michael can will himself to do is nod and follow him outside.

-

His HQ is loaded with people. It's made up of four towers. North, East, South, and West. Each tower has their own department of workers who all elect higher officials. And above all of them is Calum.

It's not a loud environment. Back at Nexus everyone is friendly and practically companions in this crazy business they've invested themselves into.

But here? Everything is the complete and utter opposite. It's quiet with everyone's face planted on the computers on their desks, wide open spaces of floors- no cubicles or offices to separate them. It's desk after desk so Calum can see everyone and what they're doing. He can watch them work and not putts around.

Busy and stressed out mail carriers push around carts and pass out reports and files that Michael pretends not to recognize. Large flat screens on display that show different screens of meetings taking place. People get paged over the intercom to go to conference room G, everything is neat and organized.

Perfectionist. Michael remembers. It's one of his strong suits.

"Boss, you've got a few calls from Garrett Vinstein, he's requesting to have a meeting with you sometime this week for that mission out in Russia." A weary receptionist calls it out to him from her spot at the desk, she's got to be in her mid-thirties and she's near trembling at the sight of Calum walking past her.

He's sending people out to Russia. Michael's interest heightens, praying that Luke can hear the conversation happening.

"Set up one on Thursday, we can talk over a video call." Calum never even looks at the woman when he talks to her, his mind is trained on other things. He won't even smile at Michael.

They walk past the large array of workers typing at their desk and head towards the elevator, all glass, of course. That's just icing on the top of this bittersweet cake.

Michael steps inside first and Calum joins him wordlessly. He's austere, they're in the Northern tower. His finger pushes down for the thirty third floor and let's doors slide shut.

"Don't talk to anyone here, okay?" The maori is sincere but his facial expression says otherwise. It seems like he's warning him with those dark eyes and clenched jaw. He tugs on the lapels of his suit to try and appear somewhat formal (as if he doesn't already).

"Why not?" Michael tilts his head infinitesimally.

"Don't want you hearing about what we have to do here."

There's a gentle ding every time they pass a floor. He can see each floor as it goes higher and higher but only blurs. Michael can catch the shooting range and the recovery lab for those wounded. He sees one of the floors is blocked off from being seen into. A spur of a long corridor with a guard at the far end, Michael checks the floor number - 24.

"I already know you kill people." Michael laughs it off with a smile. Registering that floor into his mind as he feels Calum's hand dance across his spine in an attempt to prep for when the doors open.

"I've got big plans, baby, can't have you telling anyone." His calloused hand holds onto his side and gives a gentle squeeze.

Luke's in his ear, "I can't get into the cameras, it's all blocked." There's loud clattering of his hands slamming down on the keyboard, "Jesus, fuck, it's overriding my computer."

He flinches at the sound of Luke yelling.

"They've got it all locked down and they sent a bug into my computer that's hacking my own fucking-" Luke groans out in frustration and Michael can practically see him standing from his chair to pace it out.

"You've got quite the empire." Michael turns to the maori when they've just nearly reached the floor. He can feel the elevator slowing down.

"I aim to impress." Calum smirks over at him and the redhead pretends that he doesn't get a flutter in his chest when he does that.

The doors slide open and he's met with a similar look to his own boss' office. A narrow hallway with a receptionist. The only difference could be the color scheme and the worker at the desk, an intern, probably. Judging by the way he scrambles to work the second he sees Calum in the entryway.

"Jonathan, this is Michael, keep him company while I run in and grab some papers, yeah?" He steers them to the receptionist's desk and a panicky feeling spikes inside of Michael fast and hard.

"Get into that office, now." Luke grits it out.

"But I-" He rushes forward to try and get a hold on Calum's suit but the maori only waves a hand.

"It'll only be a minute."

"But, baby, I thought-" He freezes, trying to appear less frantic, he gets the brunette to pivot and face him with eyes that ask him silently what's wrong. He slips a hand down Calum's chest, and twirls the tie until he can tug on it a bit so those ebony eyes are staring into his. "I thought we could be alone."

His words are seductive and he knows it can work if he just gets him turned on enough to get him behind that damn door.

"You're so hot when you boss people around," Michael's hand goes for the man's crotch in his slacks, "Why don't you boss me around, baby?"

He feels Calum shift uncomfortably, his cock twitches. Michael can't stop himself from smirking.

"Jonathan, don't let anyone in my office." The brunette tugs Michael down the hallway with a deathly grip on his wrist.

"Y-Yes, boss." His receptionist murmurs at the same time Calum is sliding his ID card into the slot of the door, a green light flashes and he pulls him into his office.

It's everything Michael has expected, sleek and pristine with high class furniture. He has his blinds shut but he's guessing there's floor to ceiling windows across one whole wall of his office. He can smell cleaner off the shining marble floor.

His head lifts up and his breathing catches in his throat when Calum's lips crash onto his, rough enough to bruise. He's got him pushed against the closed door, tasting his lips and slipping his tongue into his mouth. Michael tries to fight back the urge of moaning when he feels his hips grinding against his own.

"Are you in?" Luke asks, his voice like an instant reminder of what he needs to do.

In order to try and subtly respond Michael kisses Calum deeper, humming a not so discrete "Mhm," that turns into a moan.

His lips release from the maori's in order for Calum to nip at his neck instead, he's hot and slow with his movements. Michael's eyes once shut with ecstasy blink open to focus on the room decor.

He tilts his head to the side to allow him more room, gasping when he catches sight of one wall in particular. He goes stoic, failing to relax after he just realized the entire wall full of mounted guns of all variety.

"Guns." Michael can't stop himself from breathing the word out.

"Hm?" Calum faces him when he feels his tense muscles, the way his palms are flat against the door refusing to move or calm down. He looks like he just saw a ghost.

His eyes follow Michael's gaze and his features once full of lust deepen with confusion, "Oh, those? It's nothing, baby, don't worry."

"Are they real?" The redhead can't bring himself to look away, he's too busy trying to count how many are on there. It's sad how fast he can recognize the types up there. They're fucking deadly. Worse than the pistol he has in his coat pocket.

"Of course." Calum laughs, as if it's preposterous otherwise, "What if an enemy tries to break in?"

Michael fake laughs and tries not to imagine how he's going to die. Luke tells him to not look so guilty and he pretends he's not screaming on the inside when he sees a set of filing cabinets in the far left. If his big plans aren't in there he'd like to know where the fuck else he can find them.

"Not that they break in often, once a month- sometimes less. Just need to take precautionary measures. Can't run a business if I'm dead."

Another fake laugh. This one is all guilt.

Out of nowhere Michael's earpiece rings with the sound of whitenoise, his hand clamps over it as he cringes and tries not to yank it out. He twists the connection fragment until the deafening sound is being disconnected.

"Are you alright?" Calum watches with furrowed eyebrows, "You're acting strange."

Fuck. Michael thinks. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. No suspicion. He'll interrogate him until he cracks. It's what he's known for (besides the mass murders).

"My ear is ringing like crazy. Probably gonna be deaf by the time I'm twenty five." He tries to ease the tension and watches the way Calum does a once over to assess him from head to toe. "I just have some stuff on my mind, Calum, no need to worry."

They have a little moment of contemplation, then the maori turns around, heading towards the set of files with a new delicacy in his steps, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he strolls towards them.

"You know, if your father is causing some of this stress I can teach him a lesson or two." The brunette is assuming that the 'phone call' he shared with his 'dad' is the root of this stress. If only he knew.

His hand slides open the top drawer as he skims through the labels, "I can give you his spot in my workplace. It's not much but-"

"I appreciate it, but he's not bothering me." Michael is slipping his phone out of his pocket, wondering if Luke was confused about his sudden lack of communication. When he tries to unlock his phone it crashes.

"Why can't I get to anything on my phone?" He jams his thumb onto every button of his iPhone, getting more and more irritated by the second.

He needs to tell Luke he shut off the chip because it went berserk. It was malfunctioning. His high-tech, top of the class earpiece was malfunctioning. That's not common. That's not even  _possible_.

"Oh, I don't allow technology that I don't deem as safe to be accessible when on my base. I only let my workers use the computers I programmed and the phones I put on their desks." He gestures to a simple pager that any office has at a desk. "There should be no need to contact someone who's not in the building while within the building."

Almost as if on cue, the phone on his desk blares out it's repetitive ring. The red button for his receptionist's desk is flashing to show who it is. He rolls his eyes subtly before picking up.

"Yes?" He asks, serious face back on display as there's incoherent rambling on the other line, he twirls the telephone line nonchalantly as he listens. Nodding his head slowly, until he freezes.

"You found what?"

Michael eyes the open file system still untouched. His feet shuffle over slowly as he listens intently.

"That's impossible how could someone break in?"

Michael's feet stop moving.

"You have a location?" Calum's knuckles burn white against the handle of the phone, his eyes glance to a nonchalant Michael standing by. "Can you find him and bring him here?"

"Jonathan, I'm not asking  _you_  to do it- tell some of the guys in the West wing. I want him here alive, could get some answers out of him."

There's a pause. A sickening pause that makes knots twist in Michael's stomach.

"What's his name?" He asks. Jonathan repeats himself on the other line and Calum's jaw locks.

"Luke." He echoes what he says.

Michael feels the air get hot all too fast, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling are burning into him at such an alarming rate that he gets dizzy. He needs to sit down. He needs to run and never fucking come back. He needs to get to Luke before they do. His lungs struggle to take deep calm breaths as he shakily lets himself sit down in one of the smooth leather chairs. The room is spinning under his feet, turning and turning until it's all a blur and all he can see is Luke getting dragged out of their hotel room.

Calum hangs up, and that's when Michael focuses back in on the reality of this situation.

"Change of plans, sweetheart." He brushes his cold knuckles across Michael's flushed cheek that swelters with nervous heat. "I've gotta kill someone before we can leave, okay?"

-

Michael doesn't know how long he sits in that chair for. He watches Calum fill out papers and take file after file out of that drawer with his eyes skimming over each paper. He can't even will himself to move, but when he talks to Calum he smiles and puts on his act of being all in love and gushy with him. He can't imagine how he can fix this. How much Luke is going to hate him for causing his death. He should've never taken this case. He's gonna get his coworker- fuck that- his  _best friend_  killed.

At one point, Michael considers the idea of outting himself and taking his place once he's in here. He can fucking laugh in Calum's face for being so stupid to believe him as he puts the target on himself instead of Luke. He's the one who got them into this mess. If someone is going to die, it should be him.

Luke works on a computer for a reason. He can't fight face to face. He can hack into firewalls all day and night but in person he'll break so easily. He'll tell Calum anything if it means he won't die. He'll sing like a canary about Nexus and their plans until a gun is no longer pointed at him. He can tell Calum about Michael's cover if it means he lives.

But Michael knows Calum's strategy. He read his files word for word until it was burned into the back of his brain. He knows that Calum will still kill Luke even if he tells him everything he wants to hear. Because after that, he's useless. If Luke read up on him and his strategies he should know to keep his mouth shut so he can stay alive longer. He works for Nexus, Calum will want answers. The longer he has to wait to get answers, the better.

Three knocks on his door make Michael's body perk up, moving to turn and look at who's opening the door unannounced. There's a man with strong features, heavy eyes that weigh upon the two people in the room. It almost looks like he walked in on a meeting.

"Boss, he's not cracking." The man's voice is already weary, despite the fact he looks like he could beat up his own boss. He's terrified of Calum because he's not doing his job the way he suspected. His eyes stare at the ground, "He keeps asking for you."

Calum sighs, standing up from his chair in disappointment, "Where's Alec?"

"Still talking to him." The man holds the door open to let him through and Michael scrambles to catch up with him. Once his feet fall into step with the maori's he slips his hand into his.

Calum holds him close the entire time they stand in the elevator, and just as the doors start to open again he whispers something to him.

"Please don't hate me for what I'm about to do." He has a tighter grip on his hand and Michael even clams up a bit hearing him add on, "Don't hate me, okay?"

Because he's fucking confused. He's confused and annoyed that his heart does somersaults whenever Calum tries to do these little things. He can't stop it from happening, either. But at the same time, he's about to kill his best friend. Of course he's going to hate him.

He follows him onto the new floor, it's nearly vacant except for three men crowded around Luke who's handcuffed by both hands onto the arms of a metal chair. His ankles are tied to the chair's legs, his clothes are disheveled and his head is hanging low.

"Alec," Calum claps a hand on his back so he can move out of the way, "You wanna grab our guest a drink?"

The redhead doesn't move from the outside circle of the main conversation, he tries to stay in the shadows as much as he can. Alec doesn't even glance at him as he leaves to get whatever the fuck Luke's gonna have to drink.

Calum brings his own chair over and faces Luke, his arms rest on the back of his chair, his legs on each side as he gets a good look at Luke's face.

The blonde instantly looks like a mess the second his head faces up. A gruesome bruise blooming on his cheek and a busted lip. His hair is tussled and no longer tamed, he looks like he just got jumped on the side of the street.

"So, Luke," The maori has a different tone that Michael seethes, it's sharp and angry, he's not being sincere or apologetic like he is around him. It's dark and raspy. "You wanna explain yourself? Or should we just cut to the questions?"

Luke's eyes flicker to Michael and he looks for some sign of what to do. The green eyes across the room blink a few times and he mouths 'slow' to make sure he understands what he has to do. He turns to the brunette and doesn't open his mouth to speak.

"Who do you work for, huh?" He presses the first question, "I know you're not some teen practicing their computer programming skills and accidentally wound up against my firewalls. So just tell me who you're doing this for."

Luke mumbles an indiscernible sentence, but whatever it is strikes something inside of Calum. His jaw clenches tight enough to snap and his knuckles burn against the chair.

"You work for who?" Calum spits it out.

"Nexus. What, are you deaf?" The blonde is being a bit too snappy for his life being on the line but Michael really has to hold himself back from snorting.

"Break his fucking hand." He jerks his head to the side, motioning to the same guy who lead them down here, his actions smooth and fluent as he stalks his way towards the two.

He's breaking his hand because he needs it for his own job. Calum's too smart for his own good, Michael hates that.

He can't see how it happens, but he knows when he does by the sound of Luke letting out a loud gut wrenching yell as he tries to get out of the restraints, gasping for air as Calum watches with a straight face.

"You wanna tell me why you're trying to break into my fucking base? Or should I break your other hand, too?" Moving himself a tad closer he gets a better look at Luke's face, Calum wears an amused smirk that's threateningly crazy.

"I wasn't-" Luke's struggling to breathe, "I wasn't given details. They only told me to get them past the firewall."

"That's a believable lie." Calum laughs deviously, "Now, I'm gonna ask you again, and you'll tell me the truth, or else we're really going to have a problem."

As he explains this he slips his hand into his coat pocket and lets the gun land in his palm, tilting it up towards Luke's trembling jaw that's tilted back as far as it can be to try and get away from the pistol pressed against it. Sweat beads down his forehead, he sends a helpless glance to Michael.

"Don't look at him." Calum's thumb flicks the gun off of safety, "Look at me."

The blonde doesn't listen, he's still waiting for some sort of information to slip off of Michael's lips. He needs him to stop Calum before he fucking dies. If he doesn't do something he's going to be shot and he'd rather not die right now. He at least wanted to be promoted to head techie back at Nexus and he can't exactly do that if he's dead.

"Don't." Michael speaks, voice quick and almost meek with the way he doesn't want to sound too feverish. "Baby, don't kill him."

"Yeah,  _baby_ , don't kill me." Luke still manages a smug remark as he only gets Calum's free hand crushing down on his bleeding and broken wrist mercilessly, he yelps and struggles once more in the chair.

"Baby, don't talk, okay?" The maori has to keep his eyes centered on Luke, knowing very well that if he takes one glance at the boy behind him he'd just about crumble and forget about this.

"Is this how Mali looked?" Luke sneers it out, catching the brunette off guard and hitting him where it hurts. "Right before my boss shot a bullet right through her head? I have a family, too. You wouldn't want them to mourn over my death like you did with her, now would you?."

He reels back his gun and uses it to hit the blonde across the face with enough force that it leaves a mark instantly. The brunette stands up so the chair falls onto the ground with a harsh clang.

"How the fuck do you know that?" Calum's nostrils flare as he tries to resist the urge to yell but his voice is gritty and furious. He could kill him. He  _could_.

Before the redhead can stop himself, he's stepping in between them. He flickers his gaze from the gun to Luke's extremely discombobulated hand and all the way up to Calum's wide, tentative eyes.

"Hey," Michael brings his hand up to cup the brunette's cheek, watching the way the maori flinches at the affection but learns to relax soon after. His heavy breathing is slowing as he tears his eyes away from Luke to gaze at Michael instead. "Calm down, calm down."

The maori lets himself do as he's told, leveling his breathing back down to where it's supposed to be. He doesn't know how he did it but the second Michael's eyes met his it was like everything around him had flourished. His touch was alarmingly calming, the gentle graze of his fingertips across his skin burned into his cheek. He shouldn't be like this, not while on the job.

"Boss," Alec is back with confusion in his tone.

The reminder that he's not alone with him finally resonates itself and he's backing away from his touch. A much colder look on his face as he stares at the ground.

"Give him the drink." Calum's stepping away from the group, his mind already thinking of other things. "Don't leave him unattended. I'll be back tomorrow."

"Leaving so soon?" Luke grits it out to mask the fact his whole body is in immense pain.

Michael stares long and hard at the blonde, his feet following Calum, his eyes scream at him not to play things this way, he wants this to go down with only one death. And it's not going to be him or Luke. That's for sure.

-

"I can't believe you've never seen a single Star Wars movie." Michael's shocked and quite frankly appalled at the fact he's telling the truth. The Star Wars series is a cinematic masterpiece that revolutionized his entire life and Calum has never seen one second of any of the films.

The maori is chuckling from the other side of the table, a smoky french café to dine in was chosen by the suave man, already slipping into conversation easily without their dishes coming out yet.

"I find that very hard to believe. Even people who hate Star Wars have seen a movie or two."

"Not even one." Calum brings his glass to his lips and drinks some of his lemon water with a smile dancing across his face. When he's not putting on his whole charming killer act, he's actually a very enjoyable person to be around.

"When we get back to your place, I am gonna marathon the entire series." Michael makes an interest of swirling his straw around to make the ice rattle in the glass.

"I'm more of a reader, if I'm being honest." Calum has a great way of using his body to lead the conversation, his body is always welcoming and his eyes never fail to leave Michael's whenever they speak. He's a natural.

"A man of intellect," His green eyes flash over to him and dance across the maori's features, "Who's your favorite?"

"Bradbury. If not Fitzgerald." He has a hint in his eyes, it's alluring, like he knows that he has Michael enraptured with every word he says.

The waiter had dropped off their lunches with not much to say and scurries to their next table for other duties. Calum had ordered some gourmet chicken panini and Michael didn't know what half of the options were and panicked and chose one of the salads.

As Michael tries to mix his salad so it's all evenly dispersed, he glances across to see Calum's phone on the table. He can see an incoming call from Ashton and guesses by the lack of attention he's putting towards it that he doesn't want to answer. The brunette takes his first bite of his food and hums in content.

With a playful smirk on his lips Michael lets his foot hook around Calum's ankle below the table. "We never got to finish what we started in your office."

His fork is collecting his first bite when he feels the way those ebony eyes burn into his before he clears his throat, "Yeah?"

"Mhm." Michael eats and nods.

"Well, isn't someone eager?" Calum's voice is deep and husky, it's gravelly and hot. Michael tries to focus on his food to play things off subtly.

Calum smirks, "The ride home is still a half an hour."

"Perfect, then." Michael takes a sip of his water.

They eat and discuss other things for a few minutes when Calum's phone starts to go off again. It rings and rings, but he glances at the name and chooses to ignore them.

"Aren't you going to answer?"

"Not when I'm off for the day." He gets a text after he speaks and those brown eyes glance down to read it before sighing. "Jesus Christ."

"What is it?"

"Just Ashton telling me more about our plans."

Michael's eyes flicker from his phone to his face, as if he'll show the truth somewhere within his features.

"I've got this great plan, baby, you should see the things we've got on it. I could double my empire- Hell, triple it with the number of people who will join me after this." His face lights up when he speaks about it, hands moving to accentuate his point. If Luke were here he'd be able to access his phone in seconds. At least he's getting somewhere though.

"I thought that Nexus would have an eye on me, no wonder they got that Luke guy trying to break into my base. Nexus always has someone on me, they're intimidated." The maori grins as he says this, his usual smug confidence showing through.

"How can you tell? That someone's onto you?" Michael really shouldn't ask suspicious questions like this but his lighthearted tone hides the suspicion.

"I'm a big deal, baby, they always have someone out to get me." Calum sips his own drink and lets his phone buzz some more. "Nexus just has shitty employees, they're easy to pick out."

Michael pretends that doesn't sting a little, his hand grips his fork tighter and stabs rather harshly at his food. He's no fucking genius himself if one of them is sitting right across from him.

"I'm sorry if my business talk is boring, I don't do much besides that." Calum apologizes curtly.

"It's not boring, it's really interesting actually." Michael smiles, getting the maori to lift his head up and smile back. He never really sees him smile, he's either smirking or scowling. Michael likes his smile. "You have to have other hobbies though, right?"

"I wake up, I run a few miles, shower, go to work, come home, have dinner, and  _sometimes_  I'll go out." He takes another bite, "It's a cycle."

"Yeah, but now you have me to throw you off that cycle." Michael doesn't know why he says that but it's almost like he wanted to say it. His feelings pushed those words out into the air and Calum's grinning over at him with those warm, mocha brown eyes.

"You're something, Michael." Calum is picking up his phone to finally respond to Ashton, his eyes glancing up at him before he adds on, "I don't know what, but I like it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you guys think! feedback makes me v happy!!!  
> talk to me about your otp on my tumblr (malumaffairs)


	3. Is This What You Want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m back and better than ever ;)

Michael doesn't know what he should've expected when he pulled into the driveway of Calum's house. What he didn't expect were steel gates that require a passcode to get in, and perfectly trimmed hedges that make a neat row down to the mansion. It's elaborate and huge and everything someone could dream of owning with a fountain in the front.

Two deep mahogany doors bare the entrance with gold handles and intricate carvings. He registers the address as fast as possible in his brain, buttoning his shirt back up as Calum zips up his slacks. Their quickie was just as good as last night, Michael's neck is marked down to his collarbone, his lips are swollen after making out. He could get used to this.

Their chauffeur brings the car to a steady halt, the old man goes out to open the door and lets Calum out first. The maori grazes his hand against Michael's and pulls him onto his feet. He tips the man who drove him here and heads for the house with the redhead in tow.

Calum is practically back in tip top shape, no trace of just having sex on his body as he adjusts his tie and opens the door. He smirks, "Casa de la Hood."

The foyer already exceeds the size of Michael's shared apartment with Luke. It's all marble floors and high ceilings with paintings and vases of flowers. A polished staircase that expands towards the second floor is in the center of it all. A coat room to his right with rug in the middle that is obviously antique.

"Welcome back, Mr. Hood." A lady is entering the foyer from what looks to be the dining room, a broom in hand. She's elderly and stout with crinkly eyes and greying hair pulled into a tight yet frizzy bun.

"Ellie, this is Michael." He's already walking elsewhere but the redhead takes his time to establish the greeting from the old woman, her warm grin and delicate wave, as she strolls her way past him.

"Lovely to meet you, dear." She takes his hand in both of her much warmer ones and squeezes. "If you need anything, come find me."

"Will do, thank you." He finds her kindness endearing, how could Calum have such a caring individual working for him? He's not a nice guy but this lady might be the nicest person he's met. . .ever.

She goes down a hallway at that and he turns to face forward. Shit. He lost Calum.

He went down the hall, but to which room? There's millions to choose from and every single door is shut. Not one is left open or shows any trace of him going into it. This is just going to be a fun guessing game.

His hand goes to the first door he suspects, opening it softly just to take a peek. Everything is pitch black but he can make out the tiny bed in the far corner and the dresser beside it. A spare room, maybe? He blinks to try and focus his eyes on anything else and finds a corner of cleaning supplies. Ellie must stay here, then.

"Calum?" He tries to call his name but silence is all he gets in return. He feels like an idiot. He had one job.

His hand jiggles another doorknob to try and find him, but it's locked. This is fucking useless, he has seven doors left and he doubts he'll find him anytime soon.

"Babe?"

Still nothing. He gets to the third door and lets it creak open, it's well lit from the windows bringing light inside from the sun. All the room consists of is cardboard boxes on top of other boxes on top of other boxes. He doesn't have time to read the sharpied in labels along some of the numerous cases when a hand finds his wrist.

"No snooping." Calum tugs him close and shuts the door for him, he grins sheepishly, "Don't go into rooms unless I tell you to, okay?"

"Oh," Michael tries to play dumb, pretending like he really didn't understand the trouble with what he did. "Okay."

"How about a tour?" Calum wraps an arm around Michael's back so he can hold onto his side and head down towards the foyer once more, never giving away where he had gone off to since they are heading away from all of the extra doors.

"Ellie's guest room, empty room, supply room, laundry room." He points at the doors as they pass. His legs are quick in their strides. "Ellie has keys to all the rooms, most are locked but she dusts and sweeps them."

They steer left out of the foyer and he points in the direction where Ellie had stumbled off to earlier, "Conference room. That's a no-no room for you. Only me and my associates can go in."

"But Ellie's in there." Michael jokes, his mind blaring red sirens as he tries to plot ways to get into there. He can imagine the files and the papers and the plans. The big, important plans on Nexus. 

Calum doesn't find his joke funny and keeps a straight face as they continue their stroll, "Ellie is my maid. She doesn't even know what I do for a living."

And wow, that explains why she doesn't act terrified at the sight of him, merely smiling and happily doing her job as she sees him walk in. He doesn't intimidate her because through her elderly eyes he's a sweetheart who happens to own a big house with lots of money.

They go through the basics- kitchen, lounge room, bathroom, basement, another guest room. He has a flat screen mounted above a fireplace, and it's very compelling to lay on the couch and watch anything with Calum beside him.

"If you need food, ask Theo." The maori points to an older, lanky man in the kitchen already preparing dinner. The support staff here is incredible, but they all have zero clue that they serve a murderer every night.

"This is the library." Calum pushes open a heavy mahogany door to reveal walls of literature that look to be miles high, a few desks to read at as deep red curtains cover the windows and keep things primarily dim for the most part. He doesn't even like reading and he's in love.

Just as fast as he opened the door, it shuts. Calum's back to pulling him along, now steering him up the stairs to show him the gist of everything there too.

"A sauna, work out room, bathroom," He barely gives him time to asses which one is which when he brings Michael forward with a jolt. "And this room."

He's facing a blank door that shows little to no signs of being opened.

"This is my office." He brings Michael's back to his own chest with a soft thud, "You can only go in there if I'm inside, alright?"

He wasn't kidding about his need for security because he dangles a key in his thumb and forefinger. Taunting Michael without even knowing it.

"It'll always be locked, even when I'm in it. But if it's an emergency and I'm not home, you go in there and lock the door. If anyone ever breaks in, this is your safe place, got it?"

Michael's eyes widen before he can reply, "Mhm."

-

The movie playing on the screen was quote unquote 'subpar' in Calum's opinion. Star Wars through Michael's eyes was a masterpiece within itself.

Their bodies are tangled together on the couch, a much more relaxed Calum with his jacket off to the side and the top two buttons undone so it's looser. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and toed off his shoes. Michael is curled up into his side, his hand traces patterns into Calum's exposed skin on his arm.

The maori is the least bit intrigued with this movie, his mind focused on other things, like the way Michael's eyes widen during certain scenes and the little laughs he emits during funny lines.

He leans down at one point to suck on the pale boy's neck, biting at the skin to leave a mark.

"You're missing the best part." The redhead laughs but he doesn't get Calum's lips off of his neck, only a hum as a reply to what he said. He lets the brunette lean his body down across the couch so he can hover above him, still leaving hickeys down his neck. His eyes are trained on the tv screen, though.

"Calum," He drawls out his name to get his attention, eventually using his hand to bring his face up so he can look at him. With tussles of his naturally curly hair falling over his forehead, they lock eyes and he feels his brain flatline for a few seconds until he remembers what he wanted to say.

"Watch." He juts his chin out towards the tv.

Calum grunts but doesn't protest as he rests his head on Michael's chest for the time being, watching the screen in disinterest. He looks a lot less intimidating when he's relaxed like this, his one cheek is squished against Michael's shirt as he pouts to try and show his boredom. He doesn't like movies, they're too long and he can't just sit and enjoy one unless it's genuinely intriguing.

As a major fight scene starts to unfold with action packed music in the background, Michael casually runs his fingers through the brunette's hair, the lack of gel or other hair products sweeping it back makes it feel soft and fluffy under his fingertips. It's all loose and bouncy curls on the top with the sides shaved off. He massages the maori's scalp and receives a gracious moan from the man on top of him.

"Feels nice," Calum murmurs into his chest, leaning into his touch for more contact. They lie there for awhile, long enough that the credits start rolling and Calum's eyes start to fall shut more than he'd like to admit.

Before he has a chance to discretely untangle his body from his, the sound of his phone ringing disturbs the both of them into jolting awake.

He reads the contact on his screen and feels his heart stop.

"Hello?" His eyes avert to Calum as if he'd know just who he's talking to by the look of fear on his face.

"Get me out of here before I actually die." Luke hisses it through the phone. "I knocked some guy out long enough to get to my phone back. Do something before they kill me."

"They won't." He has to make sure not to sound like he's screaming on the inside, the brunette watches him talk on the phone as he says it.

"You don't know the shit that they're doing. Calum's not telling you half of it." Luke has labored breathing as he tries to continue. "They have spies, at Nexus, they're in our base the same way you're in his. They're gonna-" He hears someone yelling and then the line goes dead. The only way he can hold back a panicked yelp is by tugging on Calum's hair a little too roughly.

"Michael?" Calum speaks up after a long string of silence. He can sense his worry, the way his eyebrows furrow together and the overall essence of confusion laced through his voice.

"I'm fine." He stammers, pocketing his phone, he thinks of a believable lie, "My brother just called so,"

It's getting late. He realizes it after he glances at the clock, nearly midnight by now. He can feel the bags under his eyes getting heavier by the minute. Calum seems to notice the same time he does.

"Let's head up, yeah?" He gets up onto two feet and pulls Michael towards him. His hands intertwined with his makes his heart jolt, masking it behind his dark brown eyes that avert to the floor. He's never liked holding someone's hand. Before he gets too caught up in his emotions he lets go and starts walking down the hallway.

He shouldn't be thinking like this. His career doesn't have room for a relationship, let alone a committed one. He keeps things one sided. Let's them stay at his house while he works back at HQ, sending them gifts and flowers every day or so. He'd come home, have some sex to relieve the stress from work and that's about it. That's how he does things. So, why does he not want to do that with Michael?

The master bedroom is just how one may expect it to be. A king sized bed with a priceless duvet and headboard, no television, only a book on his nightstand right beside an ash tray and a pack of cigarettes. The connected bathroom and a tall dresser opposite that wall. He has throw pillows that Michael can probably get buried in. Everything is all expensive and luxurious.

"Do you mind if I join you tomorrow?" Michael is stripping down to just his boxers, Calum's already climbing into bed with his Calvin Kleins on.

He plugs his phone in and makes sure to change Luke's contact name to something else, just in case he calls again. With that done, he burrows under the sheets until his body is pulled towards Calum's by the waist.

"It's not that fun, baby."

"I think it is." Michael tosses around until he's facing the brunette in the nearly pitch black room. He can just barely see his eyes.

"I don't want you to whine about being bored. You can't sit in on meetings either. You'll have to stay in my office while I'm out with colleagues."

Perfect. Michael grins. Kissing the corner of Calum's lips before he tells him goodnight. Falling asleep faster than usual with arms around him and a heartbeat that falls in sync with his.

-

Michael doesn't know why he wakes up at two in the morning but it's pitch black, maybe all of this stress is going to his head. So much pressure is on his shoulders over this mission that he can barely get a good night's sleep any more. It's only the second day.

He feels his head pounding, it's steady thrum pulses through his body as fatigue clouds his vision into a hazy blur.

"Calum?" He turns his head to see the space once occupied by the maori is now empty, the sheets wrinkled and show he got out of bed. His own voice drowns in his sleep, grumbling out his name as he props himself up on his elbows. The duvet falls onto his lap as he checks the room around him.

He pans across the room from left to right in slow, steady movements. The lamp, nightstand, dresser. He checks it all with concise understandings of his surroundings. He sees his clothes on the ground, no longer folded on the top of his dresser, he can see the lack of a gun in his coat pocket.

"You lied." Calum's voice is right next to him, his body hovers over his beside the bed. He has that darkness in his eyes, no more warm golden brown colors, they look one shade away from turning black.

His hands are wrapped tight around Michael's own gun, clicking it off of safety, eyebrows furrowed together in anger as he aims it right between his eyes.

"Calum-"

His sentence is interrupted by his finger pulling the trigger.

Michael sits up fast in bed, eyes opening wide, a quick gasp of breath as he wakes up from the dream his twisted mind had made up. Birds chirp from outside on the windowsill, he can hear running water from the bathroom, the door is shut but he can see a sliver of light lining the bottom. Calum must be showering. He's not going to kill him.

His mind tries to shake away the uneasiness in his body, recovering from the all too realistic dream. Michael zones back into the reality of the situation. He's alive. He's awake. His phone is ringing.

He clutches his phone tight when the contact name of Peter makes him clear his throat and bring the device to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Have you checked your emails? Your texts? Anything?" He sounds downright pissed and the fact Michael gets scared by the tone of his voice isn't helping. He got off topic, off task, he talked to Calum all night.

Before he can fend for himself he hears him sigh on the other end, "Why can't we get in touch with Luke? Huh? Part of this mission is giving us feedback daily, not whenever it's convenient. Neither of you have contacted HQ at all."

"He's. . ." Michael almost said he's dead, holy shit, why did his mind go straight to death? He should be optimistic, he should have some faith that Luke is alive. "He's on break?"

"Not funny, Michael."

"They sort of, um, found him?" He prepares himself for Peter's wrath of cursing and yelling, bracing himself for the simple get back to Sydney, we'll send someone else. He expects to get fired.

"Who did?"

"Take a wild guess." Michael spits a little too harshly.

"When did it happen?"

"Yesterday." He murmurs, hearing the faint sound of running water squeak to a stop, he lowers his voice. "Calum's not oblivious, he can catch any hacker. He's being held hostage. I'm working on it."

"And how's your progress?"

Michael's surprised that he's acting so calm. He figured he'd have some empathy for how this may feel, how horrific of a situation this may be. But Peter has zero clue that they're roommates, best friends, practically brothers.

"Slow, but I'll tell you more details in an email." He picks at a stray string on the sheets and listens to Calum humming a random tune in the other room.

"I'm staying at his place." He hears the doorknob jiggle and Calum's entering the bedroom with a towel haphazardly tied around his waist. Clearly not expecting Michael to be on the phone, he sighs out in exasperation and waits for him to finish speaking.

"Very nice work, Michael. Get Luke out of there, and don't forget to contact me."

"Okay, mum, I know." He puts on a rather obnoxious fake voice, finding it difficult to focus on the phone call when Calum is half naked and dripping in front of him. Steam wafts out of the bathroom and spins around his body. The strong scent of his far too expensive cologne hits his nose and he's in heaven.

"I mean it, Michael, don't forget." Peter presses on the subject.

"Love you too, bye." He hangs up and tosses his phone to the side. His lips bare a sleepy grin as he focuses his attention back to the maori in the room. His towel now dropped to the floor as he's in the middle of pulling underwear up his long legs.

"For someone who's unemployed, you sure do talk on the phone a lot." The brunette slips open his closet door and starts to skim past hangers to find a shirt of choice. Michael stares at his ass, but not in a disrespectful way, in an appreciative way.

"Just because my dad ignores me doesn't mean the rest of my family does." He stretches, arms pulling behind his head as he yawns, "Can I borrow some clothes?"

"Should've told me last night, my tailor could've had some suits ready for you." Calum picks an oxford blue button down, taking his time to fix the collar in the mirror, "Try and find something that fits in there."

He points to the closet he was just filing through, the red haired boy slips out of the very warm sheets and shivers at the cold breeze he gets by walking towards the maori.

"Do you ever wear anything that's not a suit?" Michael jokes around, trying to wake himself up through conversation, his fingers move button down after button down, suit after suit, he doesn't have a single plain tee.

"I'd rather be seen dead than be seen in something informal." Calum skillfully ties his tie, jutting his chin out as he does so. His freshly shaved off stubble, his skin already looking brighter and younger.

"We should go shopping." Michael sparks up an idea, "Get you some clothes I'd like to see you in."

"What's in it for me?"

"New clothes." Michael smirks, stopping his search to rake his eyes up and down the maori's toned body. "Maybe you can buy me some clothes, maybe you can rip them off of me afterwords."

They stop and stare at each other. Calum fights back a smirk by pursing his lips instead, hooded eyes that tear him apart hungrily. The two of them can sense the prominent tension between them from his words. The eagerness in Calum's eyes, the challenge in Michael's.

Calum breaks the silence by clearing his throat, "I'll be sure to fit that into our schedule."

"Your whole life isn't a schedule." He says it without thinking, a sudden outburst of affection, his hand even grabs Calum's hand. "You need to separate your work life from your personal life."

"My whole life revolves around my job, baby." The brunette tightens his grip on his hand, then nods to the closet, "Wear that."

He glances over to see the shirt he stopped on, a plain grey button down with thin, barely noticeable darker grey lines as a pattern. He checks the size and shrugs when he sees it's his size.

As he slips it off the hanger he catches a glimpse of the shirt behind it. His green eyes blink wildly, the plain white button down is littered with blood stains. There's no doubt in his mind that's blood, he knows the difference between red wine stains and blood stains.

"These are old but they should fit you." The maori has yet to notice his confusion, picking a pair of slacks from his dresser drawer and tossing them onto the bed for the redhead. He slides his own pair up his legs.

"Why is there. . ." He can't bring himself to finish the question, only raising a finger to point at the shirt. Calum peers into the closet. He looks a tad bit too calm for the redhead's liking. 

He shrugs, "Babe, you better get used to seeing blood if you're dating me." He slips a belt through the loops of his slacks as he addresses him, "It's part of what I do, you know that."

"Just a little tough to get used to." Michael murmurs. His fingertips fumbling with the buttons of his shirt while Calum watches idly.

When he's done getting his own outfit together he hears a buzz from the intercom in his room, Ellie's voice speaking soon after.

"Mr. Hood, Ashton is here."

He presses down on the tiny red button and speaks, "Alright, we'll be down in a minute."

Once he releases, the redhead pipes up, "Why's he here?"

"Big conference today for our plans. Besides, he's three houses down from me, so sometimes we drive to work together."

"Cute." Michael teases in a cheeky tone, unplugging his phone from it's charger.

He's still not accustomed to how big this house is, he nearly gets lost on his way down to the foyer, a maze of hallways and doors. He feels like he's living in a resort not a house. Everything feels too big, Calum must get so lonely living here by himself. Even though there's support staff, it lacks liveliness and warmth. Or maybe that's just how Michael sees it.

Ashton grins when he catches sight of the two ambling down the staircase. He's always cleaned up well from what Michael's seen so far. Not only through his looks, but his overall mannerisms, posture, and etiquette never fails to amaze him. Maybe it's because Calum is his slight superior that makes him so eager to impress the maori. Either way it's still a nice look on him.

"You ready for this?" The dirty blonde pivots on his heels so they can get this show on the road. His chipper attitude boosts Michael despite the fact it's nine in the morning, which is rather early to him. He doesn't even get to work this early.

"More than ready." Calum is definitely a possessive person. No matter the situation, he keeps his hand somewhere on Michael at all times. Especially when discussing something to somebody else. He seems to be claiming Michael as his by doing it too, whether it's bracing the side of his waist to pull him close or smoothing a hand down his back until he finds the dip in his spine.

They stumble into a sleek and new Range Rover to drive down to base. He takes the back of the car whereas the two bosses sit up front, Ashton driving.

"You two enjoy the party last night?" The curly headed man is jeering a little bit, but in a respectful way. He knows more than anyone not to push Calum's buttons. Even though they're friends, he can still kill him with zero hesitation.

The brunette, to their surprise, chuckles. Tongue running across his bottom lip before he replies, "Exceeded my expectations, if you ask me. Didn't expect to find someone so naive at one of my parties. Michael is new to our scene."

"So I've heard." Ashton smirks, "He's all the talk right now, got yourself someone new and everyone's dying to see if he'll stay alive long enough."

"What?" The redhead brashly snaps from the back seat. Bug-eyed and overwhelmed at that last part. Stay alive long enough? What's that supposed to mean?

"You didn't tell him?"

"Why would I tell him? Ash, he just started dating me. I can't just-"

"Why wouldn't you? Him being seen with you is going to make him a target. That's an important thing to tell him before you two establish a relationship."

Calum huffs, irritated by the dirty blonde's truthfulness. His eyes dance across the dashboard of the car and Michael catches the slight shift of his features. A new lividity etches across his face, knuckles burning white as he clenches his hands into fists.

"Calum?" He quips under his breath. Well aware of the fact that Calum keeps a gun in his coat pocket, he tries to be of assistance during such a bad time.

They drive for a minute or two in silence. Honestly, Michael doesn't check the time, he basically knows it's been somewhere between one to two minutes because the song on the radio switches during their pause.

He feels isolated, unable to reach out and calm him down is torture. As much as he hates to admit it, he feels the urge to comfort Calum right now. He wants to hold his hand and talk to him in low whispers that only they can hear. But he's stuck back here, restrained as he watches the way Calum gets more and more irked by the second.

"I'm always being watched, like I told you yesterday, Michael." He breaks the tension, "But since you're with me now, the people who are out to get me will be out to get you, too."

"Why me?"

"Because you're close to Calum." Ashton brings himself back into this, "Mali was close to him, and. . . well. . ."

The redhead pretends he doesn't catch the way Calum's jaw twitches at the mention of that night.

"It's a common process in our business. Taking someone and using them as ransom. Like that guy at my base, Luke, he's held hostage for answers, as bait, even. If someone, God forbid, found you. . .they'd want me to run there and get you."

"Oh." Is all Michael can bring himself to say.

"Calum's lost some partners that way."

"Didn't care for them, though, so I let whoever took them have them." He's relaxing bit by bit, still tense in his stature, but at least he doesn't look like he's about to kill someone (literally). After a string of silence he adds on, "I care about you, though."

Michael realizes two things.

One : He feels the same way. He cares about Calum.

Two : He shouldn't be getting attached. He's fucked.

-

Calum kisses him sweetly whenever they're alone. He pulls him close in empty hallways and elevators. Even in his office, after he's done with a stack of files he gets up, kisses his lips for a quick second then goes back to his cabinet to return things to which they were found.

He's definitely a private person when he's not drunk. The lack of wine in his system makes him become a stern, strict authority figure. He acts different around everyone, with Ashton he's very playful but keeps himself composed. Around workers he's intimidating and austere. Around Michael. . .he's smiley, he blushes, he gets a little less cold.

Their lunch break takes place in his office, Jonathan walks in with a plastic bowl of a salad with chicken and other miscellaneous add ons. When Calum sends a not so subtle glance at Michael, Jonathan realizes his mistake and stammers out an apology saying he'll be right on it.

"You're fine." The redhead grins shyly, "Calum and I can share."

Jonathan looks at his boss for approval, a little on edge. This could be a test, a challenge of sorts. His job could be on the line. He should only take answers from Calum, he's not allowed to listen to anybody else in this building.

"We're fine, thank you." He seconds the boy's decision, not even glancing up from his computer screen. A hand shoos him out of the room as he murmurs something incoherent, probably cussing if Michael had to guess.

They are left alone again in the dull silence of his workspace, the faint ringing of the phone in the hallway echoes through the door every now and then. But other than that, few exciting things happen. Michael just wants to stay in here alone to find evidence of these plans and to sneak Luke out of this fucked up place.

The redhead has zero clue when Calum has his important meeting but right now he has a goal to try and get his ID card. That card is the only chance of him getting into the room Luke is trapped inside. He could also get into any other room in this entire base. There's too many to choose from.

He rises up from the leather chair, his eyes skim across Calum's desk to see his damage done so far. He has so many papers, any of them could be about his plans. Suddenly his heart drops at the sight of an old family photo, it's discretely slipped under a paperweight so the only way to notice it is if you're on Calum's side of the desk.

"Is that your family?" He steers his way towards the maori's chair, the not so subtle pang that hits Calum when he realizes he saw the photo makes him feel sorry for asking. Obviously it's his fucking family, they look identical.

It's an old picture of them at some beach, the boardwalk just barely caught in the far left as they all crowded next to one another, Calum must've been a child, his gapped teeth and floaties on his arms, his sister in her early teenage years with a peace sign thrown at the camera. His parents stand on separate ends and Calum is holding his mum's hand as his father slings an arm around Mali's shoulder. The warm sun is glowing in the distance, near sunset. A sandcastle is in the distance.

"Mhm." Calum goes back to his computer, unamused with him as he tries to read some email on his screen. He won't even bat an eyelash at the boy trying to cheer him up.

To counteract his grumpiness, Michael manages to sneak himself around the desk and lets himself sit on Calum's lap. The brunette barely even flinches, only snakes a sturdy arm around his waist to hold him up and bring him closer. He can feel the way he huffs a little during his reading, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Michael pops open the lid on Calum's lunch and starts mixing the dressing with the salad itself, there's only one fork but the maori doesn't seem to mind.

His free hand turns Calum's head away from the screen, their eyes meeting after a moment of him finishing up the sentence he was on. Those rich mocha eyes glint a little brighter when he works up a smile towards the boy. He can see the adoration in his stare, he can feel it reciprocate between them through their smiles.

"How is it that when you stare at people they run, but when you stare at me. . . I'm not afraid?" Without thinking he lets the words fall from his mouth in a soft spoken manner, brushing the pad of his thumb across his cheek.

Calum's eyes crinkle as he breaks into a full on smile, "I ask myself the same thing."

The way Calum looks at him is much more endearing, a gentleness etches itself across his features with relaxed muscles. He looks genuinely happy to be looking at Michael right now and he can feel the way he warms up to him. The way he lets a wall once between them fall and he's letting Michael in, that easily.

They eat together after that shared moment, their smiles never falling as Michael feeds Calum forkfuls of his lunch with quiet laughs under his breath. His own hunger being fulfilled every now and then. He's not that hungry, he can't focus on his appetite when he feels horrible for leading Calum on like this. It's so wrong. He feels like garbage to be doing something so stupid. He hopes Calum isn't going to demolish Nexus, he doesn't know if he can kill him at this point.

Maybe he should leave. Before things become too serious or he gets any closer to the maori. He knows his face, if he runs he'll be traced back to Nexus and that'll only fuel his hatred towards the base some more. If he were to back down it would be his third strike and then he's fired from HQ and unemployed. He'd have to find some other agency to take him in.

"You're not a bad guy." Michael whispers it as they discard their food for a bit, he looks at the brunette's keyboard to avoid his stare. "I think everyone who thinks you are is wrong."

"Who's telling you I'm bad?" Calum turns worried, but nothing too anxious that he seems frantic, just a small twinge in his eyes that screams at him not to believe whoever told him that.

Michael holds back the urge to caress his jaw and calm him down, he fights the need to dance his fingertips across his cheekbones.

"It's your father isn't it?" Calum flickers his gaze across each feature on Michael's porcelain face, turning bitter at the flip of a switch. "He's wrong. You don't listen to anyone who says that. I'm not-"

His hands are holding him tighter, relentless but still not letting the red haired boy in his grasp respond. He's too caught up in his own train of thought to let him answer.

"If he told you something, it's not true. I swear it's not true. I'm good, baby. I'm good." He rushes it out in a hurry as if Michael's going to run away but he stays put. His mouth falls open to intervene but the maori keeps on fighting against his own conscious.

"Cal-"

"I'll. . .I'll kill him if he said that." Calum spits it out with zero hesitation. He barely lets himself process what he's saying until it stays in the air around them, empty and cold. A sudden silence falls and they both stare, dumbfounded.

Michael has no words. Nothing. He can't think of any way to look past his outburst. He can't brush it off, that was pure madness. It was insanity. Just because he said something. . .which he didn't even do. . .Calum wants to kill him. His chest rises and falls, trying to reel himself back down to something that won't scare the boy away.

Three strong knocks on his door have them both turning their attention away from what just happened.

"Boss." Alec, the guy who monitors Luke is walking in without being told to do so and nearly retracts at the sight of Calum with the redhead on his lap.

"The fuck do you want?" The maori is weaving his way out of Michael's grasp, standing with his spine straight, shoulders broad.

"Your meeting, it's about to start." He points at the time on the wall. A mere three minutes until he's supposed to be in the conference room, Michael does a mini happy dance internally, watching the way Calum curses and spins around to face him.

"Stay with Alec, okay? I don't know when I'll be done." He brings the redhead up from the chair and introduces the two. "Alec, meet Michael."

They don't exchange hello's. They don't even smile at each other, they only head out towards the elevator where Calum rushes to lock his office door and keeps his hands shoved inside his pockets. He couldn't seem more on edge for something, barely coming down from his anger when they step into the elevator.

"Boss, how am I supposed to watch the hacker if I have to watch Michael?"

"Why do I hire idiots?" He whispers to himself, "Fucking idiots."

Alec stays quiet, for a buff guy he's a bit too sensitive when it comes to Calum talking to him. He still keeps a straight face but he physically looks less powerful around him. He doesn't have the same stance from when he was interrogating Luke, that much is true.

As the elevator slows to a stop, the brunette fixes his appearance and cracks his neck as the glass doors slink open.

"Bring Michael with you, I'll drop by when I'm done." He doesn't give a second glance (or even a first glance) when striding his way out into the hallway, an instant hush falls among the workers walking in the same corridor. Holding boxes of paperwork and some hold guns like they're cellphones. They all back away as he walks past them, watching with fearful eyes. Michael wasn't wrong, people are scared of Calum.

A younger guy, probably a teenage intern or even a visitor stumbles into Calum when he's backing away from a conversation. The simple bump of his back hitting Calum's shoulder has the maori pinning him against the nearest wall. He has fast instincts, cocking his gun in seconds as he holds it to the teenager's forehead.

Michael can't hear what he's saying, he doesn't want to. Before he can see how it ends the doors to the elevator slide shut and moves down floor by floor, they're alone again.

"You're lucky." Alec keeps his voice low, never actually looking at Michael when talking to him. "He won't kill you if you mess something up."

That must be why he's not scared to look in Calum's eyes, he's not worried for his life like these workers, like anyone for that matter. Calum treats him like he's a real person, not an expense that he can just throw around and shoot like he's replaceable.

"You haven't even seen his worst side." Alec continues, "You'd run if you did."

"And you have?" The redhead pretends not to be phased.

"Once." He finally let's his eyes meet Michael's, "When his sister died. He went on a whole rampage. Killed anyone if they so much as glanced at him. Wouldn't stop shooting anyone until he ran out of bullets, even if they died from the first one. Only person who he didn't get mad at was that Ashton guy."

"Oh." Is all Michael mutters, trying not to think of the visual that he just put into his head.

They step out of the elevator and stalk their way down the familiar corridor that leads to where Luke is. Alec casually types in a number on the pad beside the door, not bothering to hide the fact it was 13783, and then listens to the affirmative ding as the door unlocks.

Luke is still in the same chair, tied up the same way. His wrist is probably infected, but there's bloody bandages wrapped hurriedly around it in an attempt at fixing it. He sticks his head up from his lap when they enter and the obvious wave of relief that etches across his sickeningly pale and bruised face lets Michael know, again, why he should be doing this. For Luke.

He slams the door shut and scans the premises, no cameras, nobody else beside them. This is good. Fantastic, even.

Alec is slouching as he heads towards Luke, already cracking his knuckles and winding up for another punch.

Michael swiftly clicks his gun off of safety mode after hiding it in his coat pocket for so long. He aims it at the man and speaks, "Don't fucking hurt him."

"Why are you-" Alec glances at him suspiciously, his mind connecting the dots as he takes a step or two back. He must not be armed if he's not acting cocky. He has his own brute strength to suffice but not right now.

"You're gonna cooperate with me, alright, Alec? You see, I need some things from this place that you have access to." He steps closer to him with each word he says, backing him up until he comes in contact with a wall.

"Calum's gonna find out." The man smirks with his hands up in surrender to show he's empty handed. "And then you'll be dead."

"I highly doubt that." Michael eyes Alec's body for any signs of a weapon and takes the ID card clipped off of his belt, stashing it for himself.

"Pretty impressive. You got this far." He's surprisingly not terrified and Michael changes that by firing a bullet at his foot to make him yelp and gasp for his life.

"What's Calum's plan for Nexus?" He grits his teeth to get his point across that he's not listening to his bullshit. He needs answers more than ever. He has to make all of this fast, speed things up before he gets caught.

"You think I know?" He hisses and crouches to hold his wounded foot in agony. "He's got hundreds of things against Nexus."

"I told you." Luke interrupted.

"I know he's gonna try and get some technology from that Russian guy he's conferencing with. Some sort of demolition explosive." Alec has to put force on the wound through his shoe and stem the bleeding. "That's all I know, I swear."

It's believable that he may not know too much. But Michael needs more than that and if he can have someone tell him rather than sneak into another room, he would much prefer someone telling him.

"Don't play games with Calum. Don't ever, ever think you're capable of that."  He gets Michael to aim the gun back at him, the metal glints in contrast to the dingy, dark room they're all in.

In spite of his actions and the fact he's about to die, Alec flashes a wicked grin, "You don't seem to realize. . . he'll get you in the end."

Michael shoots him, not even flinching at the sight of a dead body and blood spewing out of someone's skull. He watches the way his chest stops rising and how all of his limbs relax until he's lying on the ground cold.

"I need a witty comeback, fuck." Michael scolds himself and tries to make up his own one liner like they do in movies.

"Jesus Christ, just untie me." Luke wriggles in the chair and lashes his ankles to get his point across.

"Wow, I didn't even hear a thank you."

"Fuck you. You got me into this mess, Michael."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know he could track your computer, let alone kidnap you." He's working out the knotted rope around his legs, letting them fall apart. He can see the rashes it left on his pale skin and feels guiltier than he wants to be.

His eyes glance at the handcuffs on his wrists, holding back the nausea he gets when he gets a peek at the blonde's wrist, and then shuffles over to Alec. He pats him down until he finds keys and gets him out of those.

"How can I get the fuck out of here?" Luke stands on weak legs and tries to gain his balance after sitting for so long. His face is obviously bruised and dried blood is still under his nose, a cut in his lip as well. The regret doubles inside of him, a need to apologize pushes it's way up to the surface.

"Sorry, really, for all of this. I should've just declined the mission. I'm not gonna complete it." He should have never taken up on Peter's proposition, he never would have gotten into this mess if he had said no. But the fame and glory was all he could think of, not the risks and downfalls.

"Michael, don't say that. It's my fault that he got into my computer, I was too in shock to stop it in time. You're doing more than enough to get this done." The way he says it is so genuine that it almost instills some faith into him, almost.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to get you out of here."

He has zero chances of not getting caught once he steps out of this room, cameras are everywhere. Workers are at every corner. People will see him with Luke and he'll be doomed. Unless. . . he doesn't go with him.

"Where's your boyfriend?" The blonde smirks and nudges his side to lighten the mood.

"In some stupid meeting." He shrugs, "Maybe I should barge in and ruin his chances of getting anything."

"He'd literally kill you." Luke laughs it off, gazing at his surroundings, "I like how he gets around you. When he almost killed me and you stopped him, incredible."

"Should see his face when I pretend to flirt with his workers." He gets another fit of laughter between the two, his eyes glance through the door and sees the elevator. An idea pops into his mind.

"Have you ever jumped down nine stories?"

And wow, he sounds like an idiot. Luke is even staring at him with those wide eyes telling him wordlessly that he is one. Of course he hasn't, he'd die if he did. That was a dumb idea. Maybe they should just face the consequences, it'll be easier.

"Michael, that's not-" He looks around to find something better, "If I could find something to block the cameras, I can break the glass in the elevator when we reach the bottom floor and run for it before anyone sees."

"No, the front doors are glass, too, everyone can just turn and see." Michael hears the elevator ding in the distance and panics. He looks at Luke and at the door, sees the silhouette approaching and knows without a doubt that's Calum. The broad shoulders and stance when he walks is burned into his memory after studying his every move these past few days.

"Pretend you're going to kill me." He thinks fast, placing the pistol into the blonde's nonbroken hand, he knows not to worry, he has it clicked onto safety mode. Besides, Luke has to have at least beginner's training in shooting to get into Nexus, even for a position that does not require it. He knows how to hold one. 

"But what if he-"

"Trust me, okay." The red haired boy pushes himself against the wall and let's the blonde hesitantly waver the pistol inches away from his face. Sweat beads down Luke's forehead at the sound of the door opening and closing shut with a thud.

"Baby, help." Michael can turn terrified at the flip of a switch, instantly getting his lip to quiver and his legs to tremble against Luke's not so threatening stance. He has a limp and broken hand, he's barely even terrifying unless you look at the blood and bruises on his face. 

"I'm here, baby." He has his own gun out in mere seconds, the look on his face is pure anger and it's fueling his every move. His eyes hold this fury inside of them just seeing Michael in any form of harm. If Michael was in Luke's shoes he would be petrified.

"You move a muscle, you die." Calum presses his gun into Luke's temple, he has more than enough anger inside of him to pull the trigger. Far more than necessary. Luke visibly can't hide his fear, his usually baby blue eyes look paler than ever, nearly grey. Okay, this wasn't his best fool proof plan.

Overall, he thought Calum wouldn't even bother with holding Luke at gun point. Everyone who's gotten the chance to know him is aware he wimps out doing one of those. All he's heard around this base is that Calum doesn't even bother with killing someone so up close and personal.

"Had to leave a meeting for this shit, got Jonathan running in telling me Alec signaled a code to my office." His eyes glance at the spot beside Michael on the wall. Suddenly, he sees the tiny red button in the middle of it all, he must've pressed it as a panic button of sorts. Curse his well-minded wickedness.

"Come here." Calum takes Michael's hand and moves him out of Luke's target, holding him behind his back. Just like on the yacht, the same spot to protect him. It can't be a coincidence, what could be the reason?

"Don't kill him." Michael whispers when he watches the way Calum's finger twitches against the trigger. Anxious and apprehensive, he's second-guessing his decision. Maybe it is true.

"Don't wanna see another person die." Michael hides his face behind the maori's back clutching the hem of his suit to try and seem scared, but also just in case he goes to shoot, he can shove him away and ruin his aim.

"Then shut your eyes." Calum doesn't mean it. He can't mean it. He's not the type to kill people this way, he's just saying it for show. He wants to scare the blonde, show him he's the real power in this building. He's not a force to be reckoned with.

Luke drops the pistol onto the ground, it rattles against the concrete and he's surrendering. Michael peers over and catches his stare, he's about to cry, blue eyes welled with tears threatening to fall.

"Don't have enough time for any torture." The maori thinks out loud, "Could shoot you in the center of HQ, put on a nice little show for the workers."

Luke doesn't respond because he's too busy trying to fight back any tears that he just nods weakly to say that's okay. Michael looks over Calum's shoulder and slowly shakes his head, subtly, he feels numb. Everything's turning into shades of grey and he can't bring himself to fight this time. He has nothing. Nothing. He's gonna fail.

"Hold this." Calum lowers his gun until it falls into Michael's hands, he holds it as if he never held one before, as if he didn't use the one lying on the ground to kill Alec. Blinking wildly when the maori steps forward and shoves Luke's arms behind him, pinning them against the middle of his spine.

Luke yelps and cries out when he puts pressure against his broken wrist to keep him steady. Michael has to look away to hold himself back, if he saw him in agony he'd end up blowing his cover. Luke is the only person he cares enough about to protect. A brotherly bond between them that he's never had as an only child. They've been attached at the hip ever since they both walked into training together. Losing him would be devastating, he'd quit.

They head out of the room, down that gloomy corridor that's bone chilling, even more so when he's walking down it knowing Luke's gonna die. He can see his reflection in the tiled floor, the gun in his hand is too overbearingly bright against the UV lights that glint against it.

They file into the elevator and Calum slams his finger against the button for the first floor.

It's dead quiet, you could hear a pin drop. The blonde exchanges worried glances between Michael and let's their shoulders bump as he flickers his gaze to the glass and then back to the redhead. Hinting.

"You don't fucking touch him." Calum tightens his grip on Luke's wrist so he gets him to hiss again, tugging them apart. "You touch him, you look at him, you die."

"Not gonna fuck your pansy boyfriend, relax." Luke earns himself another twist of his wrist, staggering his breathing into heavy puffs of inhales and exhales. He gasps until Calum decides to ease his grip.

Michael fiddles with the gun as they reach the last few floors, nonchalantly playing with it like a toy until his finger slips and shoots the glass behind him, twice. He shrieks, feigning terror at the startling noise of glass cracking and breaking into bits and pieces, he drops the gun and gets two strong arms encasing his body, cradling his head so no shards can pierce his skin.

"Son of a-" Calum's voice is muffled into his hair but he makes no motive to move and risk getting Michael hurt. He stays put, and Michael can see through a sliver of vision as Luke runs for dear life outside, relief floods through his veins, life surges through him but he keeps a straight face. Hiding his face back into Calum's chest, releasing a breath that he had no idea he was holding in.

"Are you alright?" The maori brushes some of Michael's fringe out of his eyes, he's scanning his face for any injuries, any cuts or scratches.

"I'm fine, but he-" The redhead glances to the open field of grass, Luke is a speck in the distance. "He got away."

"Doesn't matter." He gets Calum's hand cupping his cheek, his thumb caresses under his eye, sweeping up a tear he had no idea had fallen. "It was an accident, accidents happen. Don't worry."

The elevator doors ding and the bustling workers are stood frozen, awestruck at the scene they're witnessing. Glass chips lie all around their feet and Calum's holding someone like never before, a kind smile - yes, a smile - on his face.

"Boss, would you like me to call maintenance?" A girl their age asks with hesitancy seeping through her tone.

The maori snaps back into his authoritative state of mind, his smile drops, and his neck cranes to look at the workers looking at him in baffled confusion. He still holds Michael, he doesn't let go no matter how many people stare.

"Yes." He clears his throat. "That would be very helpful, thank you."

He presses the button for his conference, and leaves at that, they make sure not to step too close to the open wall, a breeze whisks through vigorously and Calum holds Michael close so he doesn't shiver.

Michael can't help but remember what Alec said.

You're lucky. He won't kill you if you mess something up.

And he knows what that means, he has Calum's trust, and even more than that, he has Calum's heart in his hands and it's all for him to hold and he doesn't know how to handle such a huge responsibility.

-

Luke updates him after six hours. He's sitting in Calum's library, watching the brunette skim through the shelves for a book to read, when his phone buzzes and a text pops up.

hook up your ear piece idiot

He grins and slips the small device out of his pocket and discretely places it in his ear, scared even though Calum's back is facing him.

He types back a response.

all set

The maori picks up a novel of choice and turns around to look at him, "You're quiet today."

Michael hasn't said much since the elevator incident. It's still sinking in that Calum's depending on him more than he depends on the brunette. That wasn't like anything he had read in his files. His past relationships were all distant and short-lived, ending through communication issues and fights over his money and property. He was never the clingy one.

"Too much happened today." He whispered.

The brunette nods sadly at his words, "You should stay home tomorrow, my workplace isn't safe."

"It was a one time thing, I can still-"

"I almost lost you." Calum grits his teeth, snapping it out to end Michael's argument there. He back tracks, no longer yelling, "I can't put you in danger knowing it'll be my fault if I lose you."

There's rustling heard and his ear piece is functioning perfectly, Luke is testing the microphone as Michael fights back any more protests.

"Baby, that man almost shot you," Calum's kneeling down in front of him at one of the desks that Michael claimed comfy enough to sit in. His hand falls to his thigh, "I am not going to let anyone try to hurt you again, Michael. They're all afraid of me, I can keep you safe."

And Michael doesn't know how to stop the feeling that crashes over him the feeling of sunsets and harps and silk, everything beautiful in the world that can lighten anyones mood. He can't stop himself from the love that burns like a match from his words. So he kisses him, gently, barely letting their lips touch as they graze across one another.

He let's that match burn brighter inside of him, getting lost in the feeling of Calum's lips pushing open his own so their tongues can slip into each other's mouths.

Calum lets his book fall onto the desk, prioritizing Michael, lifting him from the chair and deepening the kiss. The redhead hooks his legs around his waist and he kisses him against the nearest bookshelf.

Michael buries his hand into Calum's curls, messing up his hair in the process but he doesn't seem to mind. The other hand works on undoing Calum's belt blindly, they chase each other's lips every time they break apart.

Michael feels Calum tug down his slacks for him, an urgent desire forming as Calum slips two fingers into Michael's mouth and whispers, "Suck."

The redhead does as told and keeps their eye contact consistent the entire time. He laps his tongue across his fingers to get them slick and when Calum deems his work done he pulls them out and starts to prep him with his fingers hastily.

"Gonna fuck you however you want." Calum is growling it out, "Your choice, baby, you deserve it."

Michael moans and let's his head lean against the books around him, gasping as he replies, "Fuck me hard."

He pushes Calum's pants down to his knees, his underwear follows shortly after, already half hard. Michael twists his wrist around his length slowly to bring him fully hard, they make out some more as they prep each other.

"Look at you, so ready for me." Calum's voice thickens, "Up against the bookshelf, can't even wait to get to a bed."

He thrusts inside of him after he says it and lets Michael moan out into the open space, he hikes his legs up so he can go deeper, an even louder moan follows.

He picks up pace after Michael gets used to the stretch, his breathing gets caught in his throat as he gets pounded into the next century with the maori biting at his neck at the same time. He has no idea how to handle the pleasure coursing through him, his eyes scrunching shut as he moans weakly over and over in short little ah's.

"Is this what you want? Huh, baby?" The maori dirty talks into his neck after sucking a love bite into his skin. Michael pulls roughly on his hair to respond as he trembles from the feeling of him going so fast. He can barely see straight, his vision goes splotchy but it's the best feeling ever.

"Uhuh," He moans out a reply, "S-So good."

His hand blindly reaches to the left, trying to balance himself, his hands cramp as he clutches the books for dear life. His knuckles burn white and he feels Calum thrust into his weak spot dead on, screaming out in pleasure as he accidentally let's the books he was holding tumble onto the ground around them.

"No one else makes you feel this good." Calum grunts as he kneads the boy's ass, "Only me." He places an open mouthed kiss hungrily against Michael's swollen lips.

The redhead works himself down onto Calum's length with the urge to get him to hit his weak spot again. He works in time with his thrusts and arches his back as he gets closer and closer.

"So needy." Calum laughs darkly when they pull away, "Could watch you fuck yourself onto my cock all day, Michael, look at you."

"So close." Michael whimpers, his legs hooked around his hips tighten around Calum's body as he let's another book fall to the floor with a thud, green eyes scrunched shut tight.

"That's right, baby, just like that." The maori guides him up and down, no longer thrusting as he lets Michael do as he pleases. He doesn't seem to notice him stopping, still writhing and moaning uncontrollably.

"Calum," He whispers, short of breath.

"Such a pretty sight." He helps the redhead out and thrusts a little bit, working himself towards his own release as he hits Michael's weak spot again. He cries out and keeps chasing the feeling with every thrust. His hooded eyes watch the sight of Michael looking so filthy and hot with those pretty red lips parted open, his eyelashes lying on his cheeks as his eyes shut blissfully. He looks downright pornographic.

Michael clenches around him and he's done for, moaning hotly when he climaxes inside of him.

The redhead only takes a few more thrusts before he follows after, gasping into Calum's ear. His sight blurs for a moment but he regains his vision seconds after. Catching his breath as he pants into the crook of the brunette's neck.

"This suit is done for." Calum smirks down at their clothes, Michael's come is on both of their pants and Calum's shirt. He can feel the maori's come run down his thighs and shivers.

"I believe this calls for a bath." The brunette loosens his grip on Michael so he stands on wobbly legs. His balance is off and he holds onto Calum for a moment or two until he can feel his knees steady themselves.

They rush upstairs to the bathroom, a very sincere Calum picks him up halfway when he sees how tough it is for Michael to walk. Of course, he makes a few jokes as well to tease him for wanting it rough. He laughs along.

"I'll get you a change of clothes." Calum leaves the water running and heads out at that. Michael starts to undress.

"That was traumatizing." Luke talks into his ear, the reminder that he was there the entire time has Michael going red in his cheeks.

"You listened?" Michael whispers in shock, a harsh bitterness in his tone, "God, just shut off the mic or something."

"I walked away before it started, made myself some dinner, came back and you two were moaning." Luke doesn't seem to understand how embarrassing this is, "And I'm not allowed to disconnect from your ear, Peter wants strict advisory from now on. So less sex, more work."

"Sex is a crucial part of this, it helps with progress, trust me." Michael realizes something, "Fuck, I don't have a gun." He hisses, it's back at Calum's work. How is he supposed to defend himself? There's no chance of winning a fist fight against Calum.

"He'll probably have a few around the house." Luke is typing but it's not even close to how fast it used to be when he has both hands.

"Not when his staff doesn't know he's a murderer." Michael likes how Luke is back to give him the other perspective he doesn't have. Their thoughts are completely different from one another and he always helps him get a better point of view of things.

The blonde huffs, "People keep guns in their house for protection, my parents have one."

"I'll see what I can do. I'm stuck home alone for a bit, he's not letting me at his HQ anymore."

He hears footsteps coming closer and adds on, "He's back." Just as the door opens and Calum enters, Luke is muttering a few crude remarks under his breath but he understands why he would. Michael's being bitchy and picky for no reason other than he doesn't want to be proven wrong.

"I'm sorry we couldn't go shopping today, you should really have more clothes here." He sets down their new change of clothes and sighs, "Tomorrow. I can clock out early and we'll head out, yeah?"

Michael grins, "That'd be great."

-

He wakes up from another freakishly vivid nightmare. Calum was chasing him down an endless hallway, gun in hand, he kept on yelling at him. Called him a traitor and was about to shoot when he shot up in bed.

No one is in the bed next to him, sunlight peeks through the curtains brighter than it has been all week. He can hear birds chirping. This place would feel like heaven if he wasn't so paranoid.

He glances at the empty side of the bed next to him, the sheets are disheveled and cold, a sticky note is on the pillowcase. The bright yellow color sticks out against the much more neutral room.

He has to squint to read, fatigue still fogs his vision.

at work, i'll call when i'm on my way home - Cal

Michael finds it cute that he said Cal, instead of Calum. It's something special, it's informal when everything else in his life most definitely is formal. He can't stop himself from smiling. Calum's warming up and starting to be less Mr. Hood around him and more Cal around him. Now it's time to get some answers.

He finds a spare pistol in the closet, stuffed inside an empty shoe box, this is too easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was a loooong one but i love doing lengthy chapters!! 
> 
> lemme know what your thoughts/comments are down below and tell me what you think :)


	4. Baby, What’s Wrong?

Calum lives a life of pure luxury. He holds himself high on a pillar that very few around him have reached. That is what impresses Michael the most, when he is told to get ready to go out for a business party, he expects a dinner or a show. 

Not a casino. 

Then again, maybe he should have seen this coming, because Calum grins over at him as they enter, ready to wast his money on games of chance and luck. He does that protective hand thing, where he holds the small dip in Michael's back to lead him up to the grand entrance. There's a long line down the side of the building but he only gives a look to the bouncer, who nods at him to let them through. 

"Do you come here often?" Michael teases slightly, grinning up at the maori. Those brown eyes glimmer in a cunning way, glancing over at him. 

"Sweetheart, Ashton owns this casino." 

The front door flies open, and the entire energy that is thrown their way has Michael stumbling back a little. He has no idea where he should begin to look. The entire perimeter is covered in slot machines, ringing and jingling as everyone plays their games in a trance of hopefulness and desire to be a lucky winner. The floor then heads down to a main circle, in the middle of it all, red velvet carpets trimmed with gold designs as the many card games are being played at velvet felt tables. Waitresses and waiters bustle out cocktails and martinis on one hand as they weave expertly through crowds. Chandeliers are strung around in the high ceiling, intricate beads of diamonds connect each set to the next. Michael feels like he just died and went to gambling heaven. 

Luke clears his throat, "These cameras are some of the easiest ones I've ever hacked into," He laughs, "Look at you in your cute little slacks." 

Michael makes sure to eye the nearest security camera and scowl. He got new clothes like Calum promised, all of them cost more than an average college tuition. He spent thousands on him and it kind of turned him on and worried him at the same time. He was so willing and excited to see Michael pick out everything he liked. He doubts he even glanced at the price before swiping his card. 

"Let's act our best, yeah? Don't embarrass me in front of my colleagues." The maori takes his usual confident steps down towards where they must be meeting. 

"I embarrass you?" Michael smirks, pinpointing a way to get Calum flustered. Stumbling over his words in order to get himself out of this mess. 

"No, baby, you don't. I just- It's very important that we act professional." He says this lowly, so nobody they pass can hear, "So, no teasing, no antics, no snarky remarks."

At that last one, Michael snorts, "Yeah, okay." 

"This means a lot to me, okay? Please, just. . .do this for me." Calum speaks through a smile as he waves to Ashton, who's more than comfortable in his realm of society. Prestigious men surround him at a roulette table, he's got a half empty drink in one hand. 

"Hello, Ashton Irwin." Luke sing songs, "Bow chicka wow wow, look at him." 

Michael cringes, shaking his head at the same time Calum pulls him closer. The men all stop conversing as Calum approaches and they burst into a buzz of greetings and handshakes. They each have suits on but only two of them seem to be around Calum's age. The rest are all older. They have rolexes on their wrists and expensive rings around their fingers. Only three out of the six have wedding bands, though. And only two of them have brought their trophy wife. 

"Where'd you find this little thing?" One of the older men, Harrison, his name is, stares at Michael like he's a piece of meat. Ravishing him with dark blue eyes that pierce right through him. 

He instantly scoots closer to Calum to feel safer, not even as an act, he genuinely wants to be close to the maori. His eyes blink up to stare at the very proud brunette smirking down at him, assuring him with those warm caramel eyes. 

He looks back at Harrison to speak, "This is Michael. We met through a party."

"Steal him from a coworker?" Harrison chuckles. 

"Not this time, Harry." He jokes, slipping a hand down so it falls into Michael's back pocket. It stays there as they laugh their way into different discussions. 

He sticks by Calum's side, shoved between the maori and Ashton, who's more than happy to see him. Grinning as he asks him how things have been and if Calum's been spoiling him recently. He asks him why he would he know, Ashton shrugs and says he has that glow to him that screams I just spent twenty grand on someone. Michael appreciates Ashton's lack of formality in these sorts of scenarios, he needed someone who wasn't a prude to tell him a good joke.

"Do you think HQ would let me go undercover so I can fuck Ashton?" Luke muses, "Well, technically he'd fuck me, but still." 

He has to hold back a laugh for the sake of staying professional like his boyfriend so graciously asked him to be. He knows only he can hear Luke's stupid commentary but the paranoia still presents himself when Ashton glances over at him and checks him for anything out of the ordinary. He makes sure to keep his ear piece out of sight. 

Ashton catches sight of Calum's hand on his ass and laughs under his breath, but hides it by sipping some more of his scotch. 

The sound of the slot machines going berserk with their many bells and whistles drowns out his train of thought. Calum's talking to one of his colleagues beside him, a just as tall man with heavy curls of brown hair and a nice bone structure. They seem to be mumbling to one another, laughing every now and then. 

"Drinks?" A woman in uniform brings a platter of alcoholic drinks up to them and two men take a glass of some cocktail of sorts. 

"Do you have any red wine?" Calum asks her nicely, but without any form of a smile. It's odd how he can manage to sound so kind while looking so mean. 

"Pinot Noir." She grins and heads back for the kitchen elsewhere when he says that's perfect. 

"Did you lock in that deal with the Russian crew?" One of the older men asks, George might've been his name. 

"Yeah, wasn't hard when I gave a hell of a price." He's getting a pile of chips from the dealer in the center, who pays no attention to their conversation. 

It's roulette. Calum has to pick a number. 1-36. If the ball spinning in the wheel lands on that number he gets everyone's bets in money. That's just the simplest way to explain it without getting in depth to every rule. 

"So you gonna go through with the plan? Next week?" 

This is it. This is what Michael needs to hear. A confirmation to say yes I am gonna use explosives against Nexus HQ, then Luke alerts base, and he is given the OK to do what he has to do. His hand tightens against the side of the table. 

Why doesn't he want Calum to say he's going to do it? Not out of fear of his own workplace at stake, no, he doesn't want to kill Calum. Not at all. 

"Time will tell." Calum smirks, his hand grabs the wine glass from the waitress approaching their group once more. 

Sipping the beverage as he slides a stack of white and black chips onto the number six. "There's ten grand." 

They all chuckle and decipher where to go as they each bet similar prices, one of them even puts in fifteen grand. Michael clings to Calum's side as if his life depends on it. He smells distinctly like expensive cologne and cigarettes. Michael never wants to let go after hearing him say that time will tell of whether or not they're going through with the plan. The more time it takes the better. 

"That sly bitch," Luke seethes, "We just need a yes or no for fucks sake." 

Michael occupies himself with watching Calum's hooded eyes scan across the perimeter of the room. He seems far too aware of his surroundings, and suspects every little thing to be a sign of danger. Whether it's the nearest stranger, to the old lady on a slot machine far away across the room, he keeps his eyes peeled. For someone who's extremely cautious in who he hangs around, it's ironic that he isn't suspicious of Michael. 

He watches the way some of the trophy wives look bored, an irritated itch in the way they sigh at anything and everything. Harrison is looking at him and he finds himself tugging on Calum's tux to have him zone back in. 

He glances down at Michael, worried about what's wrong the second he can see the fear on his face. 

"Maybe that old guy recognizes you." Luke says.

Michael knows that's not it, though, he can tell. It's a different expression on his face and none of it is questioning. It's something else. He has an idea of what it is. 

To test the limits he moves his hand, looking that old guy dead in the eyes as he slides his palm down Calum's thigh, fingertips dancing for his zipper. The maori quickly aborts that mission, moving his hand away. 

Jealousy. He can see the way Harrison tenses and furls his hands into fists when he does that. 

Michael whips around to face Calum, eyes pleading for him to understand what just happened. 

"I don't like him." He whispers it out, at the same time Calum's face twists into confusion. 

"Who?" He glances through the crowd, the sound of the roulette machine spinning to determine a winner drowns out. He pays no attention to it. 

"The guy, across the table." He flickers his sight to Harrison and watches how quick Calum is to follow his gaze. His voice weakens as he inches closer, "He keeps staring at me. I'm uncomfortable."

"Don't worry, baby." Calum thumbs across his bottom lip to keep him quiet. Shushing him lowly as he hears them all cheer suddenly, his eyes averting to the winning number. Six. 

"You won." Michael pointed it out as if the maori needed any clarification. The men at the table are clapping and suddenly he sees the lack of Harrison's presence. They're all pooling their money together. 

Sixty five grand. He won $65,000. On his first round. They all hand in their betted money and smirk as if it's no biggie to have so much lost in seconds. 

"Harry, a moment, please?" Calum ignores everyone else at the table, even brushes past Michael as he says it. He gets what he wants when the man nods, following him through the crowd of gamblers, disappearing into the hectic mess of winners and losers. Michael tries to keep track of him, he has to for the sake of his job. 

"Everything alright?" Ashton murmurs, keeping this conversation between them. Michael finds the brunette in the crowd as he asks him, the familiar head of curls calms him immediately.

Luke clicks around for a little bit, "He's taking him outside, I think it's the back of the casino." 

"Yeah, he's fine." Michael swirls his index finger around the rim of Calum's wine glass, the abandoned drink piques his interest in order to keep himself collected. 

"Not him. Are you alright?" Ashton slips his hand so it can fall to his shoulder, nothing sensual, just a comfort of sorts. His touch is gentle and barely felt through the fabric of his shirt, fingertips dancing down to his elbow then lands back to his side. 

"More than alright." The redhead whispers and grins down into the drink. A distorted crimson reflection stares back at him from inside the glass. 

"Calum's yelling at him, like, a lot." Luke hisses, "And now he's pushing him, okay, wow. He's an angry assassin." 

Michael stifles a laugh. 

"He's treating you well?" Ashton presses on the topic. 

"Definitely." Michael averts his stare back to the hazel eyed man, "How's your work going?" This is a great opportunity to get some answers. 

"Fantastic, did Calum tell you about our project?" Ashton sips on his drink as Michael shakes his head. "Well, there's this company that he's had a tension with for years now, we've got two guys undercover in their base. They're currently feeding as much information as possible to our companies and once we find out their building plans we can plant the explosives we're getting in the right places." 

Michael's going dizzy, but hides it behind his attentive features, pretending to find this interesting and not terrifying. 

"So, once we get them planted," Ashton makes a motion with his hands and a sound effect of something being blown up. Michael's suddenly sick to his stomach, it knots and twists until his throat closes up. 

"You're gonna. . .blow it up?" Michael's clammy hand let's go of the wine glass to wipe his palms on his slacks, the room is stuffier than he remembers. 

"That's the plan, if the architecture allows it." He grins, as if his plan isn't something illegal or horrific, "You see, we don't wanna have the building fall at first, we want it to go floor by floor, a slow burn." 

"When would you even do it?" 

"To be decided. Calum's picky with the date, wants it to be something worth remembering, or some shit." Ashton nods towards the opposite side of the room, "He's waiting for you, guess your night out has come to an end." 

His plan still lingers in Michael's mind the entire time he rides home in the car. Calum's quiet, in some sort of passive aggressive mood, barely glances his way as he holds onto his thigh and checks his emails on his phone. Michael pretends he doesn't notice the cuts in Calum's knuckles, the bruises that are blooming around them. 

Their chauffeur is pulling into Calum's driveway, the metal gates opening after he pushes in the code to get in, that's when Calum decides to prop his head up from his phone. 

"Um," Michael averts his eyes to the car floor, feeling the instant burn of Calum's stare to his left, "Ashton told me about your plans."

"Of course he did." Calum sarcastically remarks, a sly glance out the window to observe the scenery of trees and freshly cut grass of his front yard. "Can't even keep his mouth shut when I'm gone for a minute." 

"Did you not want me to know?" He purses his lips, curiosity masked with solemnity. 

"You don't work for me, you shouldn't even know half the shit you already know." Calum stresses each syllable, making it clear that he doesn't want any private information being told to anyone, "Not sharing shit with him anymore." He mumbles under his breath. 

"I'm sorry." The redhead only mumbles back, hoping to get back on his good side as soon as possible. They each head for the front door and Calum is already loosening his tie from his neck, irritated and stressed. 

Inside, it's quiet, an eeriness of echoes for each footstep as the maori tugs his tie the rest of the way off and throws it aside to be picked up by Ellie at some point tomorrow morning. He unbuttons the single button on his tux so he can shrug it off of his broad shoulders. 

Once it's off, Michael let's his hand graze over Calum's collared shirt underneath, fingertips barely touching the fabric as he stares at the stain on his once pristine white shirt. 

"Did you kill him?" Michael whispers, the both of them knowing fully well who he's talking about. 

Calum only brings his hand up to Michael's and takes it away from the blood on his shirt, it's fresh, still a little damp. Michael's fingertips tinged pink in the slightest. 

"No, baby, I didn't." He assures him, squeezing the younger boy's hand to tell him to drop the subject and leave it at that. 

Calum is emptying his pockets and comes along the cash he won. He hesitates, then breaks it in half as evenly as he can manage. 

He puts the first half into an envelope marked for Ellie and holds out the second for Michael. 

This is at least thirty grand, maybe even more. The redhead carefully inspects every feature on Calum's face, making sure he's comprehending what he's doing. 

"I have enough already, take it." He smiles, for the first time since they left that place. 

"Oh. . .Okay." 

He takes it from him and pretends that this money won't be given to Luke for some new clothes since they haven't gone shopping in who knows how long. He failed so many missions that income is sparse. He deserves some new shirts and definitely a new pair of shoes. The rest can go into their savings for an actual house. 

When they're ambling up the stairs and down the main hall, heavy feet dragging against the polished hard wood flooring, Calum speaks. 

"What do you think? About my plan?" He's holding open the door to their bedroom as he asks it. 

"It's. . ." Michael doesn't want to compliment him, because that'll only drive him to do it. Maybe he could somehow talk him out of it. That would be even better than killing him, he could get Calum to forget about the past and then, he can be allies with Nexus. 

"It's definitely something." He yawns and continues as he's doing so, "Sounds risky."

Done with today's trials and his overwhelming nausea at the idea of emailing HQ his new findings, he decides to put it off until tomorrow morning and call it a night. His body falls under the warm covers, half naked as Calum joins him and brings his long legs to tangle with his. 

-

Being in a giant, barely occupied mansion is as intimidating and uncomfortable as it sounds. The base of Surge, Calum's headquarters, is now off limits to Michael to ensure his safety. As endearing as that is, he can only use one source for answers now. 

Calum's office. 

It's not supposed to be a place for Michael, he said it himself that he's only allowed to enter if he's already in there. It's locked the entire time as well, but he needs this, more than anything. 

Maybe, if he has some guidance with Luke, he can delete some important files, stall this a bit to earn some time to get this situation aborted. 

Theo, Calum's chef, made Michael a crepe and a fruit platter for breakfast, his stomach full and his mouth resonates a faint taste of cantaloupe. 

"I say just shoot him and get it over with." Luke speaks into his ear, after Michael's spiel is up on how to change Calum. 

"But. . ." Michael tries to vocally explain why this isn't what they should do but he realizes all too well that none of this is valid. He only wants him alive because he feels bad if he has to kill someone who's done nothing but care for him and cherish him. 

"It does nothing, Ashton is a part of this."

"Then kill him, too." Luke is frustrated now, not in the mood to listen to Michael's plea. "We're not gonna risk failure when we can so easily succeed."

"Calum's a good person, Luke." He paces around the bedroom, "He's nice and he's not an asshole when he's around me, that means he can change. I think I can do it."

"Do what?" The blonde snaps, "Stop him from the mass murder he's planning? Such a sweetheart, he's demolishing an entire building full of innocent people. People you know, your coworkers, your boss, me. He's only nice to you because he's fallen head over heels for you and your sex appeal. He's killed hundreds- thousands, even. He'll kill you once he finds out what you are really doing in his house."

"Once he finds the gun in your coat or the chip in your ear, we're screwed. Don't stall any longer, the second he walks through that door, aim the gun, and call it a day." 

Michael takes his gun from his coat and watches the metal hit the light, shining and blazing, a burn of betrayal in his palm as he cocks it and watches the way it sets a bullet into place, ready to fire. 

"There's still good in him. I can see it, it's there." Michael clenches his jaw, a flash of a memory as he remembers every time Calum's stared at him. His eyes hold it all inside the golden brown colors there's hope mixed within. Silently screaming that he's not the worst person in this business, that's not who he's trying to be. 

"An assassin doesn't smile at me like he does, he's good, Luke. I can prove it." 

"We're not here to prove it. We're here to get answers, which we have, so just do your job so we can go home." Luke sighs, his form of concluding the conversation verbally. 

It's not fair. Michael knows his job is run by facts and information, not by emotion or choice. He follows the steps listed in the manilla folder and goes without questioning his morals. Every mission ends with a dead body and he's not letting it be his, but that only leaves Calum and that's not what he wants, either. 

"Michael," Luke comes to realize that he went too far, he yelled too harshly, but he was just upset. His tone turns suspicious, "Do you. . .care about him?"

Michael holds his breath, scared to answer that question out loud. He clicks the safety switch on and off on his gun and tries to pretend he didn't hear him ask that. 

He stashes his gun and drops his head to the ground, "I need to get in his office."

It doesn't take long, not when Michael knows how to pick a lock with ease, only sitting on the ground toying with a bobby pin for three minutes or so when theres a sturdy click and he's hopping back up. 

"I don't think he lets Ellie in here." Michael whispers as he enters the room, a nauseous feeling starting to rise inside of him. 

"Who?" 

"Ellie, his maid, she usually cleans all the rooms but this one's. . .off limits." Michael can't put it into words, how terrifying this room makes him feel. 

The black desk is stacked full of papers, folder after folder, file after file. He's got a laptop closed shut, and placed delicately on top is a pocket knife, it's gleaming silver with greenish-blue tints against the lights looks like it could cut just about anything. 

"There's so much." Michael's brain feels like it's going to explode, the room is so small because of everything that's taking up space, how can one person even fit in here? 

"He's got everything about Nexus." He sits at the desk, the cushy chair is cold against his flushed skin, head heavy as his eyes fall onto the most recently opened file.

"Anything about you?" Luke whispers even though he doesn't have to. It's just as painstakingly terrifying for him, he can tell by the slant in his voice. 

Michael hums in thought and starts thumbing through the papers fast, hoping to find his ID photo or any photo of him, he can burn it easily. The pages all seem so old, yellowing and crinkled edges. He does the same thing that Luke does with their files, red inked notes in the margins and underlined words. 

"God, no, it's not about any of us." Michael might throw up, that's how fast it all hits him. "It's about his sister." 

Each paper, every single one, and there's hundreds, all contain information on her case. The Nexus, top secret, only located on their home base, file that his boss had to fill out and put into a filing cabinet is copied and put inside of there. 

Calum's handwriting is chicken scratch to Michael, and his head hurts from having to decipher note after note, the circled words. The underlined phrases and sentences. 

The pictures.

Fuck. Michael hates how he can't unsee them, her college ID is paperclipped on top but below that one nice photo is all the blood and the bruises left on her after they killed her. Lying on a metal table for examination, or her body still tied to a chair in the basement of some warehouse, moments after it occurred. 

"Anything important?" Luke zones him back into the reality of things, his trembling fingertips fumble to put the photos back where they were. 

He connects the dots, staring at all the notes in the margins and the papers scattered among the desk.

"Okay, this might be a reach, but I think he's gonna kill Peter the same way that Peter killed his sister." Michael starts to see the research in a different light, how he analyzed the way her murder went down. Where the gun shots went, how she was hit and tied up. 

"Wants him to go through what Peter's made others go through." Luke hums in thought.

"Maybe." Michael stops at the sound of a familiar voice shouting his name, eyes wide with fear as he starts putting things back where he found them, panicking when there's a shout coming closer. 

"He's home." The redhead whispers as he leaves the office, locking the door shut as he goes.

"Babe?" Calum asks once he hears the door shut, following the sound idly, unknowingly wavering over his gun in his coat. 

"Shoot him, Michael." Luke irks. "Just get it over with."

Michael holds the gun in his hand and contemplates using it, he's pretty sure the chip in his ear picked up the pounding of his anxious heart in his chest. 

"Hey," Calum makes his way to the hallway Michael's standing in, his chest rising and falling as he tries to act like he wasn't terrified that he was killed. His brown eyes cast down to try and see if he's hurt in any way but stops on the gun in his hands. 

"Where'd you find that?" Calum knows it's his, he knows where he hid it. He's well aware that the boy is holding his pistol, the way his green eyes look up at him full of guilt. 

The redhead can't bring himself to aim it, just stares down at his hands and shrugs to respond. 

"Baby, what's wrong?" The maori is stepping closer, his cologne hits Michael's senses as he lets Calum take the gun from his clammy hands. 

"Michael, god dammit." The blonde mutters into his ear. He shouldn't be going off the plan, he can't just make the rules for the mission he was assigned. He's screwing it all up. 

"Hey, calm down, you're alright." Calum hushes out a whisper, being as gentle as possible with every circle being rubbed into his back, every stroke of his fingertips running through his hair. 

Michael never actually tells him his problem, or anything, really, pertaining towards it. 

They eat their dinner in the dining room, for such a big house there's such a small table. Michael asks why and Calum explains how he doesn't have many people over his house in the first place, and he mumbles about how he usually eats dinner alone. 

-

Michael finds an easy loophole on getting into Calum's HQ despite his adamant rule of him no longer stepping foot in there. 

His lunch break. 

He tells Theo to put Calum's favorite lunch dish in a take out container and soon gets the chauffeur to pull up in the driveway just as the man finished the meal. Michael makes sure to thank him before he starts walking away. 

"Where are you off to, dear?" Ellie has a duster in hand, making sure the railings are shiny and polished, her kind eyes watch him stop in his place at the front door. 

"Visiting Calum for lunch, I'll be back in a bit." He really doesn't mind the maid, she's one of the sweetest people he's met so far on this mission. Ellie seems to be kind but not overwhelmingly so. 

Outside it's raining, the chauffeur guides him to the car with an umbrella. His eyes watch the landscape change as they drive down the winding roads, the murky weather only making him feel more tired by the second. He has zero clue how to navigate his way around Calum's base, he usually walks past everything in hasty strides, he never got to see much.

He knows enough about the base that when they pull up to the gigantic building he recognizes it. A few workers are filing in as he starts getting escorted out of the car with the umbrella. 

Before he enters he slips off his ear piece so he won't hear it malfunction and grabs the plastic boxing of Calum's lunch. He heads inside with the man holding the umbrella above him all the way up to the door. 

"I'll be back down in an hour, thank you." He grins, handing a twenty (that Calum gave him last night) to the chauffeur and then enters the building once he slips Alec's old ID through the scanner. 

Entering the building he seems to get a not so welcoming response, everyone looks like they want to run and hide, glances shot back and forth as he weaves his way through the many workers bustling in the opposite direction. When shoulders brush past his they mutter apologies before he even has the opportunity to. Are they all afraid of him? 

"Do you know where I could find Calum?" He finds someone who looks approachable, their appearance both calm and lacks any fear when he steps up to them.

The guy is his height but bulkier, copying some paperwork on the side away from where most people are. 

When he gets asked that question his head perks up, dark blueish green eyes that are much more focused than he expected them to be. He has thick eyebrows and heavy black hair tied back into a man-bun of sorts. Tattoos hide under his business casual clothing. 

"Northern tower, thirty third floor." He answers apprehensively, taking in Michael's appearance. "Just walk that way until you see the sign for the elevator." He waves him off to the right.

"Thanks." He murmurs, heading off to where they directed him to. 

He soon finds the elevator and gets inside with two other workers, much more dressed up than those on the first floor, he picks his floor and they pick theirs. It's dead quiet, the entire time. No eyes meet, no words spoken. He feels so out of place. Nexus is much more friendly, he has friends and sure he doesn't like all of his coworkers but they still talk. 

They leave him on some other floor and he's alone for the rest of the ride, the doors open and he's greeted with Jonathan smiling at him once he remembers who he is. 

"Mr. Hood is in a meeting, he has a client in his-"

"Well, I'll wait." Michael heads closer to the receptionist's desk and gives a very fake smile, "How's your day going?"

He starts to stare at his computer screen in order to stay away from looking at Michael, typing as he starts looking through Calum's packed schedule to see how much time is left for this meeting. 

"Jonathan, I like you, you're pretty cool, you trust me, right?" 

He keeps typing. Michael eventually puts the tupperware on the counter and sighs noticeably. Hoping that he can get this kid to actually take part in his conversation. 

"I-I guess." He mumbles, then glances to Calum's closed door in an attempt to summon him telepathically. 

"Just between us, you should loosen up a little bit. Don't act so tense all the time." He props his chin into his hand, observing the way Jonathan refuses to meet his stare. One long pause of contemplation as he waits for a response from the awkward and nervous boy in front of him. Even Alec wasn't this bad. 

The receptionist finally turns away from the door, eyes once gazing down lift up to meet Michael's stare. 

"Mr. Hood told me not to talk to you, and I can't lose my job, okay?" 

"He said that?" Michael seethes, slightly confused as he seems to feel a little bit too protected. Calum really does want Michael to be his and only his and that's flattering, but Jonathan is the least of his concerns. 

"Don't tell him I said that, okay?" He sputters, hands going to his hair to pull stressfully. At the same time he hears the door to Calum's office click and soon close as a man exits, pissed as ever. Briefcase in hand as he murmurs things under his breath, eyeing the two at the desk, before he jams the down button on the elevator. Tapping his foot in aggravation as he waits. 

"Mr. Hood," Jonathan is on the phone when Michael turns his focus away from the guy entering the elevator. The receptionist points to the door as a gesture for Michael to head on in. "I just- you have your lunch here, it's um-" He has to stop and try to calmly address whatever's being said on the other line. "Okay, sorry, sir." 

By the time Jonathan hangs up he's too late to stop Michael from swiping his ID (or technically Alec's) and gets the door to unlock for him to enter. 

"Fucking hell, Liam, I told you I'm not gonna- Michael?" Calum's tone goes from harsh to mildly confused in a heartbeat, eyes doing a double take as he makes sure he's not going insane when the redhead is standing in the doorway. 

He looks at the plastic container in his hands and sighs, "Baby, I said you can't come here anymore." 

"I missed you." He explains himself shyly, stepping into the room so the door can shut then automatically lock. "I brought you lunch, Theo said it's your favorite." 

"Michael, now's not the time, I have so much shit to do." Calum gestures to everything on his desk as the stress makes itself clear on his face. Wrinkled forehead and furrowed brows as he looks tired already and it's only noon. Michael almost feels guilty for showing up when he clearly doesn't have time for any distractions or even a break. 

"I just figured maybe you'd enjoy the company?" Michael's eyebrows raise as his voice rises in inflection, stepping towards his office desk as the phone starts ringing. Their time is stolen away from him as the maori picks it up and starts discussing some sort of fax machine issue to the reciprocating end of the phone. 

He takes his diligent time of setting the food down on the desk and glancing at the papers lying on top of the many others, all of them don't scream top secret, it's all pretty basic stuff, shipment details, job applications, meeting notes. 

He spots a packet with a red stamp on top and goes to grab it when the brunette shoos his hand away and gives him a warning look that if he tries to grab it he'll do far worse than swat his wrist to move it. Those ebony eyes strictly yet wordlessly tell him no, jaw tense as he focuses on what's being said on the phone. 

"Babe," Michael drags it out, quiet enough that it's indecipherable through the phone but loud enough so the maori can press his finger to his lips as another sign to pipe down. 

He huffs when Calum's talking drawls on for more than a minute, the issue presented to him on the line is seemingly more important than his own appetite right now. He's eyeballing the container as he talks, it's a yearning hunger in his eyes but he stays chit chatting for a good three minutes. 

Michael pops the lid off of the top and finds out that Theo made him some chicken marsala, he can't remember the last time something looked and smelled so delicious. The mushroom wine sauce and the chicken pan-fried so perfectly. Now he's starving. 

The redhead sucks it up and slides the food towards Calum, who nods as a thank you and takes a sneaky bite when the person he's talking to starts going off on a tangent. He offers a bite to Michael who graciously accepts, his unknown appearance in his office (despite his protest) cheers him up by the second.

As he talks on the phone, Michael dances his way around the desk until he's able to place a kiss on the brunette's cheek. A force deep down inside urges him to just yank the phone away and hang it up so they can talk and hold hands and make out a little bit. 

"I already have maintenance fixing the elevator I don't see the fax machine as an issue right now." Calum has his hand placing his fork down onto the table. 

Michael laughs, his fingertips trace down Calum's chest until he's toying with his belt. The instant hitch in Calum's breath when he palms him through his dress pants has him smirking. 

His excessive amount of confidence grows now that he has Calum watching his every move with a dropped jaw and a tent in his pants. 

"There's plenty other ones to use, go to the third floor and use theirs." Calum's splaying his legs open as he lets the redhead undo his belt, then draws the zipper down, the button comes undone and he rolls his palm against Calum's length. 

"Laura, I don't know what else to tell you," He takes his free hand and bites down to hold back a moan, dark eyes scrunching shut. His ears ring as his mind can only pay attention to the feeling of Michael's hand palming him through his slacks. "Use the machine on the third floor, I'll get maintenance there this weekend." 

He doesn't listen to her response and slams the phone onto it's base, hanging up on her. 

"You dirty little-" Calum never finishes his sentence, too busy grabbing a hold of Michael's wrist, prevent him from touching his hard on. 

"So needy, always want attention, huh, Michael?" He grits his teeth and levers Michael's body so he can bend him over his desk. His ass perched up in the air as his breathing hitches. 

His wrist captured in Calum's grip is a worrying thing for Michael right now. Being held down or restrained isn't safe for him if he's on a mission. Limited defense could get him into more trouble than he needs. And if Calum were to find the gun he has on him, he's already pinned down.

"Did you really come here to bring me lunch?" Michael can't see him, but he can practically hear the smirk plastered on his face when he says that. His eyes flutter shut as he feels Calum's hand grip his ass hungrily. 

"Or did you want something from me?" He uses his strength to pull his bum to his crotch and let the outline of his length grind against him. He's already half hard. Michael's eyes widen and his lips part in a gasp. 

"I-I. . ." He can't think straight, every word that he wants to say can't even slip past his tongue right now. Nothing except the feeling of Calum's hands touching him in such a rough way rams through his mind. 

"Tell me, baby, what do you really want?" Calum thinks he's helping him out by running his hands up and down his sides. He believes he's calming him down like that. Wrong. If anything, Michael's distracted by it. 

"Fuck me." He moans, "Calum, please."

The phone starts to ring again, it's dangerously close to Michael's ear since he's pressed down against these important documents and probably some file on the current deadly mission. He can't read who's calling but when Calum grabs the phone he whimpers in protest. What could possibly be more important that him right now?

Calum is talking calmly on the phone, his hands pull Michael's dress pants down to his knees, all while his thighs spread his legs apart to make room for him. 

He hears Calum fumble with undoing his belt, then the sound of a zipper being pulled. In a fit of need he pushes his ass against Calum's boxers, hinting at how bad he wants this right now. 

Calum brings a firm hand down on the dip in his back, shoving him back down onto the desk. He tsks his actions under his breath, reaching forward so his hand not holding the phone can insert two fingers into Michael's mouth. 

Michael moans around his fingers, and Calum's pressing his thumb into his cheek to warn him not to be loud. It could bruise if he keeps it there long enough, and he doesn't quite mind that. 

"Can you forward the emails from Oliver back to me, I have to see if he finally got into Nexus' base." Calum's thick voice is all Michael can focus on all of a sudden, registering everything he says from that moment on. 

"He has pictures?" Calum asks, laughing afterwords, " 'Atta boy. I knew he was right for the job." 

His hand leaves Michael's mouth and he instantly pushes them into him, wasting no time in getting him open. The redhead squirms and tries to relax but he really jammed two fingers into him and although he's a little loose from the last time they fucked, it burns. 

"Jonathan, my schedule's a little. . ." He scissors his fingers inside of him and gets Michael to moan weakly. "Tight. . .right now. If anyone else requests to speak to me, tell them I'm on break." He slams the phone onto it's set again. 

"I need you." Michael caves, he can ask about his Nexus plans later. His current focus is on how quick Calum is to pull his own boxers down and slip inside of him. 

He leaves the office with a limp and giggles the entire way to the elevator when Calum kisses him goodbye and tells him he'll be home by four.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’ve had this in my drafts for so long i should’ve posted sooner but aH here u guys go!! so proud of this chapter and the next ones to come :)
> 
> talk to me about my books on tumblr (babylonmaori)


	5. Shall We?

Michael builds up the confidence and courage to put his earpiece back in once he's home. Justifying his choices with a mini argument consisting of whether or not Luke can tell headquarters about Calum's plans. As much as Michael wants to get this over and done with, he can't will himself to take Calum down. 

Their fight ends when Luke surrenders, he's always been weaker when it comes to debates. The blonde mumbles something along the lines of "Fine. Whatever. Not my fault if you get fired." that he ignores and eats a late lunch with the tv on to drown out his guilt. 

The sound of the door opening and shutting has him sitting up straight, a bit too giddy than he should be when he hears Ellie say, "Welcome back, love, how was work?" 

"The usual, Elle, busy and tiring." Calum's talking to her as he makes his way through the house, growing closer towards Michael. 

"I got that envelope you left me, it was very kind of you to give me so much." She mentions the cash he split between her and Michael, genuinely meaning her sincere thank you. 

"My pleasure, Ellie, as always." He enters the room as he says it and finds the redhead on his couch, curled up against the side with a blanket. His face visibly relaxes into a smile at the sight of him. 

"You made yourself comfy, I see." He jokes playfully. He's stripping himself of his work clothes, the jacket and shoes being taken off and handed to Ellie with a grin. 

"Your tux arrived for the business party, dear." Ellie folds his jacket as she explains everything, her voice as delicate as always. 

"That's not for me, it's for Michael, but still hang it up in my closet, will you?" He joins the boy on the couch with a groan, clearly exhausted from work's rigorous trials today. 

"Of course, love." She wobbles back down the hall to do so, her elderly ways still as endearing as ever. She has the most golden heart Michael's ever seen. If someone had told him to do all that he would've rolled his eyes. 

"What business party am I attending?" Michael muses, no longer curled against the couch, readjusting his position so the maori can rest his curly head on his lap. Letting his fingers absentmindedly rake through his once perfected hair. 

"Tomorrow, we're gonna head out to a colleague of mine's house, won't be long. Just wanna scope out the competition, maybe try to get a few more allies." He sighs, "Before that, I have a conference taking place in the house, so you need to be on your best behavior." Calum smirks, knowing it's hard for him to resist Michael, and as much as he'd love to play with him and show his allies how lucky he is, he needs to have a serious discussion on their plans. 

"When will that be?" He trails his hand away from his hair and opts to massage the brunette's tense shoulders instead, he's never felt so many knots in one person's back. Except maybe Luke, hunching over laptops all day is not good for your spine or neck. 

"Noon or so, it'll be two hours, three tops. Then we'll get ready and leave for the party around seven." Calum resorts to shutting his eyes and rasps out, "Go a little lower- yeah, that's the spot." 

"You should really go to a masseuse, babe." Michael rolls his palm into his shoulder and earns a moan from the maori. "You're so tense." 

"Never have enough time to." Calum's lips part and he whispers, "Your hands are fucking magical." 

"So I've been told." Michael snickers, "Although, they were used for something other than a massage." 

"Mm," Is all Calum musters up in the midst of his heavenly massage. 

There's three heavy knocks at the front door, loud enough that Calum and Michael jump from the sound, the maori glances at the time. 

"Who's here?" Michael's voice cracks, too caught up in how terrifyingly aggressive that sounded to seem calm and collected. 

"I don't know." Is Calum's response, which, honestly, isn't very assuring on their part. 

"I've got it, dear." Ellie shouts to them from the foyer, Calum already jumping up from the couch in a hurry. 

"Elle, don't. I've got it." He's taking heavy, fast strides towards the sound of her voice but he's not fast enough. The ear shattering sound of gun shots is all too familiar to Michael, and it's not one, but two different guns going off.

Calum bolts back into the room, Ellie glued to his side as he ushers her into a room and hands her the keys as he quickly tries to keep her safe. 

"You can't hide now, Hood." It's a guy, voice booming and loud, he's close. The gunshots stop and Calum stands still, on the other side of the room, he's holding eye contact with Michael, their stare unwavering. 

The brunette brings a finger to his lips, signaling for him to stay quiet. 

"Don't be a bitch, Hood, you used to be so eager to fight." The gun gets cocked and loaded, "I thought you wanted to have some fun?" 

Michael feels his heart in his throat, he brings a hand to his stomach and tries to stop himself from throwing up out of the utter fear that swallows him whole. His blood pumps through his veins faster than ever. 

Because sure, he's had his own fair share of infiltrations, but never had one where he's supposed to pretend he's not armed and act like the damsel in distress. He's used to being in Calum's position, which is a major difference. 

There's footsteps coming into the hallway, carrying closer and closer, heavier by the second. Michael assesses his options. 

Option 1 : He plays the victim

Option 2 : He blows his cover by protecting himself

"Oh, look, what a lovely surprise." The man enters from the hall, gun in hand, he doesn't seem to notice Calum hidden near the door Ellie is hiding in. 

His colleague joins him, the two of them both hiding half of their faces with black bandanas tied over their mouths and noses. They have their companies emblem on their shirt sleeves, not exactly a smart move on their part. Why would you want your enemy to know who's after them? That's like if Michael just put Nexus' logo on his forehead this whole time. 

Nonetheless, he shrinks into the couch. Body slowly curling in on himself. 

"Hood didn't tell me he got a new little toy." The guy lowers his gun and glances at Michael, taking in his features, he smirks. "You wanna tell us where your boyfriend is, sweetheart?" 

He blinks, eyes glued on the guy's face and how it's oddly familiar, he can't remember how he remembers it, but he knows he's seen it. They're not from Nexus, but perhaps he's from an allied company? 

When he chooses not to speak the colleague of said recognizable guy snorts, "Is he deaf, or some shit?"

Michael glances to Calum, carrying his gaze from the two guys to the maori trying to sneak his way to the kitchen for a knife of sorts. He can't risk showing himself by reloading the gun in his belt. Any noise will out him. 

The man steps forward, walking towards Michael with his hands turning his gun off of safety mode. The blonde pales, any blood in his face rushes straight out of it, his hands feel numb and clammy. 

"Let me dumb this down for ya," The guy crouches down so they're more level than before, still towering over him with his weapon going underneath Michael's chin to make him look up into his fiery eyes. 

"You come with us, or Calum's gonna have a cold, dead boyfriend to come home to." 

There's the sound of a satisfying slink from the distance before a loud thump has the guy's body stumbling backwards, grunting. 

"You piece of shit." The guy's mouth pools with blood as he grabs whatever was lodged into his back out with an even angrier, disgruntled gasp of horror. His hand wields a bloody butcher knife, his knuckles turn white as he holds onto it for dear life. 

He takes the bloody knife and hisses to regain any form of stability, eyes drooping more and more with each passing second. 

His sidekick aims his own gun at Calum and fires, missing by a few inches when the maori only does the same to him and aims his own gun.

Michael hates how his heart lurches into his throat and has him gasping at the idea of Calum dying like this, his hand reflexively goes to the gun in his coat pocket, hovering over it. He's scared, he cares about Calum and he needs him to not die right now. 

"Calum, please." Michael can't say anything else, whispering it through the lump in his throat, he can't move, he's terrified right now. 

The guy from earlier wields the bloody knife so it rests across his throat. 

The maori glances at the redhead, his gun once aimed at the other guy moves so he can waver it over the one who's about to kill Michael. His Michael. He can't lose him. These past three days have been the best three days of his life and he doesn't want to spend another day without him. He has such a strong connection to him, something he's never felt with any other boyfriend from the past. 

"Scared, Hood?" The guy rasps, well aware of Calum's lack of determination in pulling the trigger right now. "Do you miss Mali?"

Calum grits his teeth, scrunching his eyes shut to try and get the image out of his mind, his own sister staring at him for help, screaming every time they moved the gun closer until they finally pulled the trigger. 

"How long has it been since they killed her, huh?"

"Shut up." Calum shakes his head, clammy hand tightening around the gun. He won't let him get under his skin like that. 

"She must've been so nice, she didn't deserve what happened to her. Nexus is bullshit, right? Greedy bastards. Killed her just to make you sad enough to surrender. How much did you pay them? Twelve million? Thinking that they'd let your sister go afterwords, you're so gullible."

Calum feels suffocated, even though the room is vast and wide open, he feels the walls closing in on him, his words haunting him. Teasing. His heart beats out of his chest when Michael starts staring at him with big wide eyes and he looks so broken. 

Calum double checks his aim, makes sure he's gonna get it all correct. 

"Cal, help, Cal, please," The guy mimicks her, and he loses it. His finger pulls the trigger so he'll shut up, the loud bang of him firing and the clink of the empty cartridge rolling across the ground near his feet. His neck and shoulders tense as he watches the guy stumble backwards before slowly landing on he floor with a heavy thump. 

Michael gasps out of relief when the knife is no longer up against his throat. He watches Calum reload his gun and shoot the other guy with a newfound anger and defiance, taking no more of their stupid antics, shooting them both a second time to ensure they're dead. 

"Stop it." Michael whispers through tears when Calum aims his gun at the guy who taunted him, but the maori doesn't listen and shoots him a third time, then a fourth. 

"Calum, stop!" Michael grabs him by the arm and drags him out of his mindset, back into reality. He scared him for a second. He acted like Michael wasn't even there, raging and going berserk over an already dead body. 

The maori let's his arms fall to his sides, his gun falling to the floor as he shakes his head, silent tears rolling down his cheeks. Michael's never seen him cry, he doesn't think anyone's seen Calum cry. His jaw sharp and clenched, eyebrows furrowed as he keeps his eyes shut and takes uneven breaths. 

"I'm here." Michael stands, slowly bringing his other arm to wrap around Calum, too. The brunette let's his head bury into the crook of Michael's neck, sniffling as he breaks down in his arms, right in front of him. 

"She's gone." Calum muffles into his shirt, teeth grit together, "It's all my fault."

"No, it's not." Michael soothes, his next sentence being something he never should admit. "It's Nexus' fault."

Calum holds onto Michael for dear life, hugging him with all his might as he turns weak in front of his very eyes. Something no one's ever had the chance to see. He's tough, he's heartless. Why is he sobbing and holding onto him? He should be a scary, intimidating man who shows no mercy. But here he is, letting his walls fall down for Michael to see in hopes he can help put him back together again. 

"You're okay." Michael whispers, "I've got you." 

-

Calum apologizes to Ellie numerous times, he refuses to stop until she understands how truly sorry he is for what fear he could've distilled inside of her. He tells her she can have a raise of whatever amount her heart desires and that she can pick a new room to call her own in this house, she smiles and tells him she'll take the guest suite on the first floor, a room he usually gave to Ashton when he stayed the night. 

Once he's cleaned up the house it's nearly one in the morning. Michael helped as much as he could, partially just stood there and made sure Calum was okay, he was worried about him. 

"Wanna relax? I'll run you a bath, baby." Calum brushes his thumb across Michael's cheek, brown eyes full of another apology that's about to leave his lips. He can't say sorry enough. "Listen, I-"

"I know you're sorry, Calum, now stop saying it." The redhead smiles to show he understands, "Let's have a bath together, baby." 

The offer seems impossible to refuse when Calum thinks of warm water, rose petals, and just Michael. He nods and finishes up with his duties before double checking he locked the doors and follows him up the stairs. 

Michael's grown kind of familiar with this house now that he's spent three days in it. He knows where the necessities are, he knows the people in it, he sort of wants to stay in this house forever. No rent due, no grocery shopping. He could get used to this life. But it's temporary and he'd miss Luke too much. 

Calum checks that Ellie has everything she needs in her new room and then let's her get to bed, telling her to sleep in as much as she needs before starting her work tomorrow. 

"You're too kind, Calum." Michael teases once it's just them in the bathroom, the water running and filling the tub slowly but surely. The maori laughs and fills the water with rose petals and lights a candle or two, the scent of lavender fills the air. 

The maori responds by kissing the top of Michael's forehead, then gazing into his eyes. "You bring out the good in me, I guess."

Luke speaks in his ear, ruining the moment, "Michael, he's in too deep. Kill him and leave before he gets down on one knee and proposes." 

"Can you grab me some pajamas, please?" Michael asks, kissing the brunette as he nods and heads out of the room for the clothes. 

"Did you hear him, Luke? I can do this. He'll change his mind if I keep this up." Michael knows he shouldn't be dragging this mission on like this, let alone steer it off track into a completely different task but Calum's good and he sees that, he knows he can get him to stop the attack on Nexus. 

"You're gonna get in so much trouble if Peter finds out." Luke says this for the millionth time, "Michael, you're my best friend, I'm looking out for you."

"And I'm looking out for you, Luke. If I stop his attack and get him to see the good side of things, if I can get him to ally Nexus instead-"

"He hates us. He would never."

"He doesn't hate me." Michael points out. 

"He doesn't know you. He has no clue you're from Nexus, and if he ever finds out, I doubt he'd still be drooling over you." Luke types for a little bit on his keyboard, "I sent some bullshit email to HQ saying we're still gathering information, you better thank me with some of that gambling money." 

"I'll split it 50/50." Michael smiles, "Now let me have a bath, dammit." 

Luke laughs, and doesn't speak anymore, leaving Michael to be back to his second life. Calum walking in right on time, shyly placing their folded clothes onto the counter. 

"Shall we?" He grins, turning the water off. The bath itself is elaborate much like everything else in this house. It's big and resembles more of a hot tub than a bath at this point. It's own jacuzzi setting turned on low for the time being, rose petals drifting across the surface and candles lit at each corner. Michael gets in with a breath of relief. Already feeling his muscles detense, his body once aching now relaxes. 

Calum's body in all it's glory joins him in the bath, his hands find Michael's waist and tugs him towards his chest. 

Michael smiles, happy to see Calum relaxed and enjoying his time with him. He kisses his lips, moving closer so he straddles his thighs. 

"You're a good person, Calum." He catches his breath as he speaks, "I really, really believe that."

The look in the maori's dark brown eyes is something he's never seen before. A mix of admiration and shyness, maybe a hint of pride. He's happy Michael can see the real him, no one else does. 

"You mean it?" Calum whispers.

"Of course." Michael leans down so their foreheads touch, "I see the good in you, it's there."

"You're the first person to." He shuts his gentle brown eyes, hands holding Michael tighter, unable to hide the shakiness in his voice. Michael's the only person who's looked over Calum's past and his lifestyle, he's the first to ask him how his day has been, the first to smile when he walks in the room. 

Calum's never been with someone like that. 

-

Michael's dreams get more and more vivid and fucking petrifying as the nights go on. 

He's pinned to a wall, unable to move his limbs, only his head can crane from side to side, his fingers can twitch but not much else. 

Peter sits on a throne of sorts, a glass of viscous red wine in one hand, swirling around in it's crystalline chalice. His other hand twirls a knife with ease. Both feet planted firmly as he sprawls his legs open and slouches into the golden throne comfortably. A devilish smirk dances across his lips. 

"You should've done as I said, Michael." Peter's voice feels loud, and it ricochets through the empty, and somehow endless, room. A pair of butlers of some sort carry in a struggling Calum, the maori disheveled and frantic. His arms restrained behind his back, his whole body being forced to kneel at Peter's feet. 

"Now, you pay." Peter smirks, white teeth glinting against the reflection of the knife, giving it one slow turn through his fingertips. Michael's chest feels suffocated, watching his own boss raise the knife so it's aimed at him, his feet yearn to move but he's frozen, an invisible weight keeping him glued to the wall. 

"Michael," Calum gasps in pain when they whip his body around to look at him, his eyes tired and heavy. His clothing torn and covered in blood stains. The redhead feels his gut churn with an undeniable guilt. 

Peter laughs, a scoff of sorts, "All you had to do was listen." 

And he flings the knife, just as it's about to reach Michael he jumps awake. 

The room is pitch black, a faint hum of the television playing down the hall. A gentle whir of the ceiling fan on low spins above him, his pants and gasps fill the rest of the silence. 

He has a dead weight around his waist and relaxes when he realizes it's Calum's arm wrapped around him. The maori lightly snoring with his lips parted open ever so slightly. 

His book is lying on the nightstand, a pen being used as a bookmark, he was reading when Michael had crawled into the bed beside him. The memory of Calum playing with his hair while he read floods back into his mind and he finds himself calming down with each passing second.

Michael's skin is covered in sheen sweat, his bottom half feels suffocated underneath the sheets. He tears it all off of him and swings his legs over the side of the bed. 

Calum's arm instantly tightens, keeping him locked from getting up. 

"Don't leave." He murmurs, eyes still shut, "Love you too much, don't go." 

Michael's jaw drops, half asleep and still shaken up from that nightmare, did he hear that right? 

Love you too much. 

His heart aches in his chest, he lays back down in bed. Right beside Calum, who pulls him into his chest. Love. His mind feels too loud to focus on anything besides the confession he just heard. 

"Everything alright?" He asks, kissing the boy's shoulder to relax his muscles that feel tense to the touch. 

"Had a bad dream."

Calum assures him that nothing bad will happen to him. But Michael's less concerned about himself. Will anything bad happen to Calum?

-

"You can't sit in on the conference, babe, it's private information." Calum speaks for the umpteenth time this morning, the sound of Theo washing dishes in the kitchen fills the void. Michael's hands that fumble with Calum's tie around his neck tighten it and straighten it out. 

"What am I supposed to do while you're in there, then?"

"Just stay out of trouble." He stretches his neck up as Michael fixes his appearance for him. His hands find Michael's hips and sighs. "I just need this to go well. This is the last conference before we follow through with the plan."

So, legitimately, Michael only has tonight to drag Calum out of this. Because who knows when he'll do any of this. He wants him to drop this plan, he wants his company safe, and Calum safe. But he can only pick one. 

Love you too much. 

He bites his bottom lip. The four words ring in his ears. He hasn't focused on his own company in so long, he barely remembers what this is supposed to be about. It's not saving Calum. It's saving Nexus. But that's not what he's been doing these past few days, instead he's delved into Calum's mind and started finding more and more of this brighter, happier man. Less of the stone cold, duplicitous figure. The documents they gave him to study were merely the tip of the iceberg, Calum is so much more than that manilla folder. He's so much more than a tormented life full of family deaths.

He needs to realize there's more to life than revenge and tarnishing those who have wronged him in the past. 

"You're gonna be safe, though, right?" Michael cups the maori's jaw, narrowing his amber eyes that fill with worry. If Peter and Calum end up in the same room, he wants Calum to come out unscathed. Peter's his boss, but he'd never choose him over Calum. Not after what he’s found out these past few days. 

"Always am." The raven haired man gives him a sympathetic grin. "Don't worry about me, I've got this. I'll come back home in no time."

Michael won't be home when it happens. Hell no. He's not going to sit on the comfortable leather couch, watching Star Wars as if Calum's not demolishing his entire workplace. He's going to be there, whether he knows it or not. 

"When are you leaving for it?" Michael whispers, his lips parted as he waits for a response. 

"Soon. Tomorrow, maybe."

His stomach drops. There's no way he's leaving tomorrow. That changes everything. He can't just leave. That's not how this works. Michael needs him. He needs more time. 

Calum senses his fear and pulls him close, "Hey, don't make that face. This is exciting. I'll throw the most extravagant party and you can have anything you want with the money I'll earn from it."

"But-" Michael can't focus on his own words. "What about after it, won't you feel bad?" 

Why would he want to throw a party? After murdering hundreds of people? Michael understands the thrill of completing a mission but he has remorse at the end of the day.

"They killed Mali." He grits his teeth. "I'm not wasting a single second on feeling bad for those assholes."


End file.
